Echo
by Unstable Waterbottle
Summary: She wasn't someone who wanted to save the world- no. She wanted the world for herself and wouldn't settle for anything less. SI/OC deal. Rating is for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**This chapter has been edited. The original plot hasn't changed, but go ahead and read it through again. I might surprise you with something good ;)**

* * *

It's rather ironic that when something this strange happens, something this sudden, people seem to know everything about it. To be blunt, reincarnation probably happens all the time. The only difference between natural reincarnation and this abomination would be the constant memory source. By remembering aspects of a previous life, she remembers, a character could confidently rely on what they recalled in order to traverse this place carefully. They had knowledge, so they used it. That just seemed too good to be true.

No, this abomination, this horribly plain and lackluster reincarnation, wasn't some ironic story found by many. She wasn't a darling girl who remembered tiny details of this world that could cause her anxiety, pain, and conflictions. She had just barely enough to go on and that was okay with her. As the previously mentioned girl pulled herself out of her thoughts and dropped down from her perch on a tree branch, she began to shuffle her way along the dimly lit roads.

She couldn't remember the first few years of her life. She remembered pain and the flickering occurrence of a new life, but nothing that could be considered special. She was born to a woman who died right after giving birth with no husband in sight. She didn't understand the language at the time, therefore, she never actually found out what happened to her 'parents', but she could remember that no one held her except the doctor who pulled her out and the nurses who fed her. The only part of her birth she can and chooses to recall is when it first happened, when she quite literally transferred to this world. She could remember being shot point blank in the head by a weapon she would never see again save only for in her nightmares, then the bright lights of the hospital room.

There was no void, no letting go, and no peace. It simply was as it was. She wasn't given a chance to muse on the idea of death nor was she given the chance to accept it. She was pushed into the world as a little infant without a hope in her heart and that was just the way it was. So she got over it. No monologues (well, technically yes there were quite a few), no regrets (no family in that world, no family in this one), and no pity. There wasn't anything she could do about it, and that fact wouldn't change no matter how much she cried or begged for the world to stop. She learned to live with that.

There was always the pulsing thought of learning why that burned in the front of her mind every so often. She wanted to know why she could remember a life she wasn't currently living and why she knew so much about things she hadn't even seen in person, yet. She wished for knowledge, and like most things she's come to learn in her new life, knowledge had a price.

It was only when she was around four and a half that she understood her place in this world and one of the prices she would have to pay. Sure, she'd seen the strange men and women who seemed to fly from building to building with wind underneath their feet and sure, she'd heard all the conversations of protectors swearing to the sky and its winds to protect their home. Their village. She was instantly repulsed by the idea of protecting this village when she wasn't sure where her ambitions would take her, and she wasn't ashamed to admit that. She'd been selfish in her other life and she'd be selfish in this one.

As it would turn out, living in an orphanage as a bastard child wasn't necessarily uncommon in this life. With so much death, what was one night of pleasure with someone attractive? She was one of many others that a handful of workers, who did not get paid enough, had to deal with. These workers weren't incredibly smart nor special, so it wasn't surprising when she first heard the mechanical conditioning spew from their mouths instead of personal, philosophical speeches she'd seen in fairy tales. They were burdened with having to deal with the brats on a daily basis, so it was obvious they wanted them to grow up with the fear of punishment swimming in their heads to keep them out of their hair.

She and the other children were tailored by these tired orphanage workers to believe that you wanted to become a shinobi- a protector- of the village. You wanted to be strong and you wanted to be powerful. You wanted to be all-knowing, follow your leader, and do well. It was about as preached as the Bible had been in a Church. There wasn't much room for discussion. If you were able, you should lust after the idea of being one of the many students in the shinobi academy. Yeah, you could become a civilian if you really wanted to, but look at how admired and worshipped the shinobi are! They needed more soldiers on the front line so that they could build up like a wall and protect those who set each of them in position.

She was sickened by it just as much as she was morbidly interested. Having been conditioned in her other life that killing wasn't morally correct, a world where it was actually praised as a simple solution ruffled her brain. It was new and strange, so she couldn't help prying into the subject. People here died just as easily as they did in her past life, if not more so, and the option to protect herself in a way she never could before enticed her.

The option to become something so much more… It was obvious which choice she decided. There was no competition in a game in which she could be the victor. As shocking as it sounds, she had not been a great team player in her other life either, seeing as she would do anything and everything she could to ensure her victory. The possibilities were endless. She could remember books upon books of people who won so triumphantly that survived the illness of time and were still talked about years later. She wished to one day have something like that.

The day after a shinobi came to the orphanage to coo about the wonders of shinobi life, she had a few more thoughts on the subject of being almost immortal. The kids laughed as the shinobi joked around, but none of them saw the horrors that were playing over and over again behind their brilliant eyes. People here were able to become something she used to deem impossible, something these shinobi had faced only once or twice in their pathetic lives, though they seem to pretend it isn't a possibility for one of their own. They could basically become… gods.

No, God.

When the thought had entered her brain, she took it and nursed it in stride. The shadows of her plotting stretched out its terrible arms to pull together every idea related to the subject. All she remembered, all she could find out. She could be something these people had never seen. The will for power was like no motivation incentive she'd ever been given. With the former pieces of knowledge that seemed to be glued in her mind from her past life, she only found her plans increase.

Technically they couldn't be called plans yet since there had been any thought put into them, but she liked to keep things plain and simple. So she began to train. A four and a half year old body wasn't much to work with now, but small things like running places, eavesdropping, and remembering the entire layout of the orphanage down to the last creak in the wood floors helped to build up skills she could use later.

Hibiki planned on becoming God. She needed all the help she could get.

* * *

Wow, that took a lot of mind effort. But I feel like it'll be worth it. So what's up, what do you think?

I suppose I should warn you right now that this isn't gonna be some protagonist story (You hopefully already gathered that). That means there's going to be more morally incorrect things you might be uncomfortable with.

There's your warning now, take it or leave it. This antagonist is gonna be cold blooded. Like a jellyfish.

Sooo.. Yeah. This chapter was pretty short but I wanted you to get a feel for what you're up against. Until next time?

**9/17/2016: **I haven't done anything with this story in forever. I have so much still planned, but everything seemed to happen to me in the middle of it. I'll be trying harder to focus on this, but I'm not sure if it'll get a new chapter until I go through the others and get satisfied with the way I word things and such. It's not a hopeless story tho! I promise! 3


	2. Chapter 2

Hibiki didn't really associate with the other children. Being five, she was just one year closer to entering the academy, so she didn't see the point in it. Not only would her advanced mentality cringe at their improper use of words, but it would also serve no purpose to her to make friends with a bunch of kids. She didn't have time for that. The caretakers probably took notice of this when she separated herself from their company, but they only had the obligation to feed, clothe, and shelter them. They didn't have to care about their mentality.

Then he came along. The little redhead had seen the bumbling blond at the orphanage before, but again, she never had any whim to approach him. He was still just a kid after all. A pretty dim one, too. One day, though, he decided to approach her. She assumed he was trying to reach out to anyone he could, hoping for a bond that he'd never had (the exception being the Hokage). Going on her earlier thoughts of the caretakers, she could see why he chose to reach out to the children instead of them. Adults were cruel and spiteful. Even she could see that their hate was directed towards him in particular.

Hibiki paused in the middle of reading a sentence in the chakra book she'd taken underneath the book keeper's nose. He was shifting back and forth in his stance, his pudgy face hopeful and tentative. She could see out the corner of her eye that he opened his mouth quite a few times before finally speaking, a childish squeak compared to the strong voice that she heard in her mind when thinking of him.

"W-Will you p-play with me?" Naruto quickly let out. He immediately held his breath, those blue eyes pleading for her to say yes.

She mused over the thought of going with the boy's wishes. Actually, befriending the main character of this world might not be such a bad idea. That caused her to stop and think. She hadn't originally given any thought about the boy and his role in the series. That might've been a little immature on her part, but she'd been so engrossed with her own selfish matters that the original plot of this world slipped her mind. Naruto would become a very important player in this game, politically and spiritually.

He would be incredibly strong from what she remembered despite the hardships he faced. He wanted to be the Hokage, and not just anyone could actually think along those lines without having some form of an upper hand. He had an enormous influence over this world. His opinion mattered to many in the future and she could recall several instances where his word was taken above anyone else's. People trusted him. They depended on him. Maybe right now he wasn't very important (probably one of the least important, actually), but later… He could be very useful.

She had a scarce amount of solid plans that she knew she could accomplish on her own. Hibiki figured she would find some poor soul to do her dirty work when she didn't feel like getting blood on her hands. She didn't really care who that person would be since she supposed that she could just pick someone desperate enough for attention up from a smelly bar. However, Naruto was ripe for the picking, standing right in front of her with such a desperate aura around him.

It would be an added bonus to her plans, too. Being a pretty introverted person, she wouldn't be easily trusted with how little she spoke nor how little she opened up to others, despite that being exactly what a shinobi should be. Naruto was the complete opposite. He was loud and spoke his mind which led to him being trusted by far more people than he knew. He was easy to read, so she could be accepted along with his personality and not have to waste effort trying to gain trust from others. It would be given without a thought.

There was also the fact that he could be manipulated fairly easy. He came from a childhood of hatred from a cause he didn't know. He longed for the comfort of another person and he wouldn't be too picky on who that was if they accepted him. His emotions would be so easy to manipulate that she almost laughed at the mere thought. Especially if he became emotionally dependent on her… Well, it looked like her plan just became a tiny bit simpler.

"Okay," She smiled a toothy grin. Naruto took a step backwards as if he was about to walk away, his instinct of always being rejected seeming to take over, but his head quickly snapped up to look at her when he processed her words, eyes wide.

"Really?" He mumbled, almost stuttering over the words. She tilted her head to the side, then breathed out a stream of air, closed her book, and stood up. She smiled brilliantly at him making his cheeks redden slightly despite her mouth being plagued by holes where her teeth had not come in yet.

"Sure. What'd you wanna play?" She started for her. A grin slowly, but surely formed on his face and she almost snickered. It was too easy. She could see the hope in his eyes as clear as she could see his yellow hair.

That was how the two become 'friends'. Hibiki became increasingly aware that Uzumaki Naruto was a large handful to take care of. He was clingy now that he found she was serious about being his 'friend'. She ate meals with him every day she had the time, ignoring the curious stares of their roommates and their caretakers. She spent most of the day by his side, never once giving away her annoyance with his childish behavior. She even found herself tagging along beside him whenever he went somewhere in the village, much to his joy. That was the most important thing she did to him since she knew he absolutely hated to go around the village by himself.

The moments she used to spend in silence thinking through her ideas and studying were now filled with his continuous stream of innocent, carefree whims and activities. He told her about how he wanted to become the Hokage, how his Jiji was currently the Hokage (something he seemed immensely proud of), and other silly things she already knew like his hobby of pranking (it seemed to become a much bigger thing now that he was getting older), and why he wanted to be a shinobi.

When he first expressed his reason for becoming a shinobi, she found herself at ease with the simplicity of it. He wanted to prove himself to everyone that he was more than whatever he was hated for. It was the usual rise of a cursed hero and it put her at ease to know he didn't care for much else. It made her job a lot easier to know how he works.

All the while, Hibiki found this new conversation thing to be helpful. Naruto had been easy to read before, but by displaying his thoughts out in the open he was actually becoming a source of information to his character. All habits had to start somewhere. She took note of the way he cringed at loud noises, soon covering them up with his own loud voice. She noted on the way he liked to grab onto her shirt when they walked somewhere public like he didn't wanna get lost. Or be left behind.

He was just a kid and she could already see some bad habits that he would ultimately still have when he was older. It made her smile, ironically. With the way he obviously started to depend on her, she mused the thought of one day him unconsciously becoming a tool for her to use. A tool she could abuse.

She paused, her eyes dimming as she started to fade out Naruto's chipper voice. He'd been talking about the Hokage and something he did, but Hibiki had only been half listening to begin with. Would she use Naruto? It had never come up before, honestly. Manipulation she could do, so she assumed using him would fall under the same category. She hadn't planned on it seeing how he was still a biju (a very powerful biju, mind you), but then again it wouldn't be any different than what the other villages did to their biju.

Villages manipulated and abused their biju every day. Most of the time the jinchuuriki knew about this manipulation due to the harsh treatment or blunt manner in which they were wielded. Although, this manipulation had never come in the form of a trusted friend. It might be not be a smart decision on her part to try and use him to her advantage, she knew. She couldn't rely on him to do everything she asked. It was that simple.

Hibiki decided that she just couldn't rely on him that way. He still had a conscious, and while she could alter his choices through a few incentives and urging, he would fall back on that. Her decision wasn't formed around the thought of his rejection of her if he found out he was being used. Nope, not at all.

"-ki-chan!" She blinked, noticing Naruto had stopped talking and was instead giving her a curious look.

"Gomen, Naruto, I was thinking about how I'd like to have a garden one day," She made up to continue the conversation, forcing a dreamy smile to appear on her face. Naruto tilted his head to the side.

"Huh? Why would you want something like that?" He asked, earnestly wanting to know. She shrugged in return.

"I dunno. Gardens are pretty cool," Hibiki nodded, as if in confirmation of her thoughts. The blond looked confused for a minute before also shrugging and deciding that it was time for them to go play outside. He was a five year old, after all, and they didn't have much of an attention span. Hibiki stared at Naruto for a moment, then chased after him when he prompted the game. She didn't have to worry about anything for the moment. Naruto trusted her completely and that wouldn't change for a while at least.

* * *

The sun is setting outside, and Hibiki has decided to try and study what she can in the time she has alone. Of course, considering the type of situation she pushed herself into, that doesn't last too long.

"Hibiki-chan!" He grinned, his round cheeks making the expression look even more innocent than it was.

Naruto had decided that the best time to bother Hibiki was when she was studying. Sometimes she would brush him off and he would get the hint and stay silent, much to her surprise. Other times, he acted like she wasn't doing anything important at all and had all the time in the world to play with him. To say it became rather bothersome was an understatement.

"Naruto," She grumbled, her grip on the book tightening slightly. She was beginning to get annoyed with how often he wanted attention. She understood that this was probably just how it was going to be and it reminded her of a distant memory she had in which a whining puppy occupied all of her time. Naruto never had a true friend before, so anyone who stayed around long enough was bound to be bombarded with his presence.

"Ne, ne, Hibiki-chan, what're you doing?" He flopped onto the bed she was laying on, making the book jump in her hands.

"Reading," Hibiki replied dryly, trying to muster up the energy to sound even the least bit interested. Surprisingly, Naruto seemed to catch the little hint.

As quiet as it had been before he'd entered the room, he peeked over her shoulder from his position behind her to look inside the book she was reading. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment before turning back to her book. She was just shocked that he even knew how to read, though she knew he'd been in the academy before. He would get bored soon enough and go bother someone else, she decided.

That didn't happen, although she was pleased to say he was still very quiet. As Hibiki turned to the next page, she began to feel a tug at her hair. She paused, determining that Naruto was indeed playing with her hair. She expected herself to pull away from the contact, but Hibiki had long hair. Long hair that usually got knotted incredibly easily due to how curly it was. Yet, she didn't feel any hard jerks that could be associated with getting caught in her hair. That surprised her seeing as how Naruto wasn't a gentle person along with the fact that he was a child.

For a few minutes, Hibiki allowed the both of them to continue with their activities. She resumed her reading and Naruto stayed captivated with her hair. Silence was their main background noise aside from the noisy children downstairs. Hibiki felt calm, honestly, and began to feel amused with the idea that maybe Naruto wasn't so bad.

Then he got his hand trapped in her hair and they spent the rest of the day trying to get untangled from each other.

* * *

She saw an ANBU the other day. Hibiki barely noticed him from where she and Naruto were sitting (it was pure luck, actually), but she saw the blur of black as the shinobi disappeared into the shadows. The sighting had caused her to freeze up and it almost caught Naruto's attention had she not been paying mind to him. It had also aroused new questions that she hadn't wanted to think about.

They had gone to a new dumpling shop on the far side of town, somewhere Naruto insisted on taking her ever since he found out she had a weakness for sweets. It was a waste of her time, but she eventually allowed him to lead her to this place, her curiosity getting the better of her. As it turned out, the shop was a hit and Naruto made sure to remember the name of it so they could return after he'd seen her face light up.

Now wasn't so cheerful. Hibiki tried to control her anxiety, but it was becoming very difficult. ANBU made her insecure in a way she hadn't felt before. They were sly, and swift. Killers who didn't need to be seen or heard to get the job done. They were just that good. Despite there being absolutely no reason for her paranoia, she began tapping her fingers on her thigh under the table.

She didn't have any physical evidence that could be found. She was just some orphan that lived at the orphanage. Sure, she may have stolen books before, but the ANBU wouldn't punish a kid for practicing to become a shinobi. They needed kids to want to be ninja after all. Though Naruto's appearance did throw up red flags. Not many kids hung around the blond, and the Hokage could look into that.

Her tapping slowly ceased as logic finally bubbled to the front of her brain. But she was an orphan. Orphans didn't necessarily get the same conditioning to stay away from the demon boy as other children did. They may take hints from the adults, but there was no way to know there was something hidden behind their arrangement.

Actually, now that she began thinking about it, ANBU would probably be her number one problem in the future. She would have to be better than them, or at least know how they work. As she calmed down from her fit and took a bite out of her dumpling, Hibiki wondered if maybe ANBU was a path she should take.

* * *

Naruto was an asshole.

No, really. He was. Without even thinking he was already being something he wasn't allowed to say yet. Hibiki's fists clenched and her jaw locked up as she stood frightfully still in the door's opening. She had gone down to the kitchen to find something to snack on during her studying, but when got back to the room, there he was. Naruto laid on his stomach in the middle of the room, crayons scattered around his position, coloring in her fairly new chakra book.

She was beyond irritated. Hibiki had only started reading that book yesterday, and he already ruined it. Just the fact that he believed he could destroy her stuff pissed her off. She had half a mind to snatch the book out of his hands and pound him with it. As she quietly approached the blond, she only got more annoyed.

Hibiki had only been gone twenty minutes tops. Before she'd gone downstairs, she knew Naruto was outside searching for a frog or some little animal. He'd explicitly told her this information before dashing out the back door to find that type of animal. So, she assumed he would do the very Naruto thing and stay outside all night in order to retrieve what he wanted.

She reached his position, opened her mouth to criticize him… then shut her mouth again.

There, in her chakra book, was the picture he'd drawn. Two figures, she assumed were him and her as one had blond hair and the other had red, stood side by side. They had overly exaggerated smiles on their faces and their eyes were just two dots of color, his blue and hers brown. There was a crudely drawn sun in the background along with an entire page of multicolored flowers behind them.

He tensed as he began to notice she was behind him, and looked up at her with a guilty expression. She sighed deeply, red blooming on her cheeks, and shoved his head down lightly, turning her own.

"Meanie..."

* * *

Hidden from sight, an ANBU member narrowed his eyes at the little girl who had become fast friends with his charge. He didn't particularly care with who the kid spoke with, that was the Hokage's job. But there was something very… unspoken about this girl. Something that could be described with a word that was on the tip of his tongue. Crossing his arms, he sighed. He knew he'd been on too many missions lately when he had suspicions about a child. He needed to retire one of these days.

* * *

Ta-Da! Naruto has arrived! Yaaay.

I like how this chapter turned out. It's descriptive, I think. And longer.

Don't expect chapters everyday, though. I'm too lazy for that. Since I'm getting invested into this story, I suppose I'll come up with a schedule one of these days.

Anyways, thoughts and opinions?

Until next time, then.

**UPDATE: This chapter has been edited.**


	3. Chapter 3

Today was the day. Her heart was pounding with excitement as she ignored Naruto's hushed exclamations about his own feelings. Her hands were wringing together in the pockets of her shirt. This was the day she could finally begin her training without anyone poking their nose into her business. Actually, she rolled her eyes, they would probably be all over her the instant they learned just how advanced she was from the rest of the kids. She hadn't spent two years wasting time after all.

"I've been here before, but today is special because this is your first day at the academy," Naruto grinned at her, his bright mood seeming to light up at her own smile. He truly wanted to see her happy.

"Mm. I'm kind of nervous though," She admitted, and she was. She'd never been particularly fond of the idea of putting a bunch of kids in a small enclosed room and asking for attention. It was just a losing competition. Naruto beamed.

"Don't worry Hibiki-chan! I'll be here the entire time! I just know we're gonna be in the same class," He assured her. We better be, she thought, or all this effort will go to waste. It wasn't easy having to deal with a hyperactive kid who thought it was necessary to put energy into everything he did. The kid even worked himself blind just to make breakfast.

"I'm glad," She smiled at him, making his cheeks turn that subtle pink she'd become familiar with. He gave a little laugh, but it was cut short before turning into a hushed silence when the whispers started.

Oh yeah, she remembered, her smile tightening up. People didn't like Naruto because he was a jinchuuriki. She'd almost forgotten that little part of the story. She'd only gone out into the village with him a few times, and each time no one dared to speak a word since they were followed closely by an ANBU. She sighed internally as his face fell. She almost forgot just how annoying it was to deal with, too.

"Ne, Naruto, do you wanna go inside now?" Hibiki prompted, though it closely resembled an order. He turned his head back to her, giving her a small, grateful smile before returning to his usual self just as quick.

"Yeah! You're gonna love it, Hibiki-chan!"

With that, she allowed Naruto to drag her past all the undertone of voices and scrutinizing eyes into the building. They walked into a large square classroom that was already halfway filled. Hibiki did a one over on the class as Naruto found them a seat at the back of the room. She concluded that they were indeed in the same class as canon and that was just as annoying to her as it was exciting.

On one hand, it meant she was a step closer to becoming more powerful. On the other hand.. Well.. The canon characters were annoying. Even more so than Naruto had been. Shrill screams filled her ears and she cringed back, her fists clenching underneath the desk. A few rows ahead of them, there sat Uchiha Sasuke in all of his indifferent glory. He looked just as irritated as she did, if even a little embarrassed.

The ones leading the troupe of idiots were none other than the useless Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. She didn't recognize any of the other girls from the story other than those two, and she didn't particularly care. Both of them were too focused with the Uchiha boy despite having to know they're lives were being put on the line every moment they slacked off in their studies. He was a kid. He didn't want some idealistic lovesick girls clinging to him.

Naruto seemed to sense her disdain and agreed with her fully. "Who does that guy think he is, huh?" Glancing towards him, she shrugged.

"I dunno."

The matter was left at that. Hibiki didn't care about Uchiha Sasuke. He was actually a hindrance to her plans, so she wanted nothing to do with him. She expected that they would end up meeting despite her reluctance, therefore there wasn't much she could do about it. Instead, she decided to throw herself into her studies and future planning, unlike Naruto.

* * *

It was sudden, and Hibiki had almost forgotten it even happened. The next thing that put a check on her timeline was the Uchiha massacre. When the Uchiha boy came into class with dark circle under his eyes, she remembered just how affected he was by it. Afterall, he wanted to kill the only family he had left. After she returned to the orphanage that day, she snickered to herself in morbid fascination of how quickly the change was.

The boy's hits became rushed and sloppy. For the first few weeks after the event, Iruka was afraid that he wouldn't listen to the criticism that was now directed towards him. Sasuke must have noticed the change in teaching because he quickly trained in precision. Soon enough he became the studious boy in the front row once more with a new dullness in his eyes.

Naruto, however, didn't have the same luck in academics as the two of them had even with this advantage over his rival. He actually came up to her on multiple occasions seeking help in his studies, but she usually turned him down. The third time around, she hesitated. If he did eventually end up being a tool for her, his original performance in the series was average at best. Most of his skills were way below average, and she had a moment of fear that he wouldn't be any use at all to her before reassuring herself that yes, he would. Just not now.

So she ended up being roped into an agreement where she helped him study not only the reading material but the physical requirements as well. It took weeks for him to be able to finish her training regimen. It took another month and a half for him to get up to a level where they could actually spar without her wiping him out at the beginning of the battle.

Overall, he was getting better. He still had a lot of work to do, but Hibiki couldn't help but acknowledge that he wanted to learn. He just didn't know how to ask for it, so she didn't let him. She just sprinted him to the training grounds every other morning as though he had.

* * *

Hibiki was a natural. She may not have been a prodigy, but she was an absolute natural.

The knowledge she'd acquired in the years previous to the academy weren't a wasted effort. Since she was relatively new to this world and its teachings, a before hand glimpse into the workings of a shinobi life was very valuable. Most of the other children in her class were civilians though there were quite a few clans members. While the clans children would most definitely have prior experience into the lifestyle, they were just kids. They saw all the exercises and training they did when they were younger as games, nothing more. They never got the serious heart clenching discussion into a shinobi's life, they got toys and more time with their family.

So that was all they viewed the shinobi life as. A game. Although Hibiki realized she also felt the same way, she had more of a grasp on reality than these kids did. The clans children knew they were going to be shinobi when they grew up. That was why they couldn't recognize the signs that all pointed to the correct answer. They just didn't take it seriously. Mom and dad are shinobi, so I'll be one too.

Hibiki towered over the others in a mental standpoint and so she understood lessons better. She could see under the underneath and between the lines. She learned the hard way that if you can understand the rules, you can understand how to bypass them as well. Classwork on paper and outside allowed her to visualize what she was learning and how to decrypt it. She was able to beat the system.

The curious thing about this good news was the scores she received in physical training. They were fantastic. Just above average in the perfectly balanced center. The more she thought about it, the more she questioned it. Hibiki had not been a particularly active person in her past life despite the energy it took to go from school to home. Sometimes she forgot all together that she wasn't the same boring person from before. She was different. Literally.

Her body wasn't born from a middle class construction worker and low-rate business woman. Kaneshiro Hibiki came from a civilian woman, sure, but she was also born from a shinobi. She knew her father had been a shinobi on how easy it was for her to pick up things. She had good genes that could very likely take her far. Although she had taken her mother's surname, there was still that ninja's DNA in her. There was no doubt that she had more of a tolerance to pain and aches than before.

That was why she was currently in the Hokage's office per her teacher's request. She'd been selected for an apprenticeship. Hibiki fiddled with her fingers behind her back, her nine year old body stiff as a board. The Third leisurely read through her file, his pipe hanging off the edge of his smile. Iruka stood by her side, glancing down in support every so often, along with an ANBU that was crudely hidden in the corner of the room.

The Hokage puffed on his pipe once more before gently putting her review down on his desk. She watched him carefully, the butterflies that began spreading their wings stirred in her stomach. He eye'd her with a calculating gleam, probably spotting the similarities with the description Naruto had most likely given of her.

"Kaneshiro-san, you have an excellent read here," He complimented evenly, and she did. Her report was actually eerily advanced in the ranks. "Your sensei has requested that we find you a sensei you could study under to continue an individual training regimen. How do you feel about this?" She tried to keep herself from smiling. This was it. Her short cut through the garden to the future of her dreams.

"I would like that very much," Hibiki replied, her casual tone causing the old man behind the desk to hide a smile. She was too cute.

"I've tried to stop these early graduations, you know," He remarked lightly, not noticing the way her shoulders tensed, "Children should stay children for as long as they can while there is still peace." And he believed that.

Hibiki waited as patiently as her rising temper would handle. Her hands mechanically began to tap on the back of her other arm with pressure. The Hokage glanced back over to her and she clenched her hand into a fist. What a sentimental old man, she droned in her mind.

"However, your future would be more important than my beliefs," She paused. He smiled at her, "There is nothing more the academy could teach you in the coming years. You ask for extra work that even last year students have trouble with and you train nearly every minute after school is done. It would be a waste of your time and mine if we kept you there." Ah, she realized. He may be an emotional fool, but he still needed to look out for the village's military efforts. His hidden agenda eased her nerves.

Iruka stepped forward, clearing his throat into a fist as he did, "I, Umino Iruka, would like to request the formal graduation of Koneshiro Hibiki and proper apprenticeship of her specialization training with a sensei of your choosing."

The Hokage puffed on his pipe, "Request confirmed." Suddenly, everything seemed clearer in her vision.

* * *

Naruto took one look at her forehead protector and his face lit up. After the Hokage allowed her to take the graduation exam, she was able to choose her specialization. Poisons were something she found interesting (ironically, science used to be her least favorite subject), though she didn't think she wanted to do it as a job. Tracking took senses she didn't need to focus on, but it wasn't something she wanted to do. Seduction was something she needed, so classes in that would be useful.

Despite her likes and genuine interest in these subjects, Hibiki chose to train in an assassination specialty. Her choice made the Hokage blink, but he managed a small smile at her determination. She needed to be quick and light on her feet (even though she was the fastest in her class). She wanted to be able to get a job done as soon as she finished snapping her fingers. Hibiki decided to dabble in the other works when she's found a middle ground in her training. You can never have too many specialties.

She was supposed to meet her teacher day after next when they returned from their mission. Her sensei was apparently an ANBU Assassin, pretty far up in the ranks, too. The Third refused to give her any hints on who they were, only telling her to meet them on training ground 23 at noon sharp. While she didn't know exactly when noon was, she told herself to be early the day of anyways to stretch.

Hibiki was also told that she was getting her own apartment. That had been a shock, but not a bad one. Now she would be able to have some privacy when she wanted to test something out or study something unconventional. It just so happened that the apartment she would be residing in was just across the way from Naruto's. By the wink the Hokage gave her, she assumed that was on purpose.

As she was returning from the Hokage's Office, Hibiki found herself trekking over to his apartment. She would still be living in the orphanage for another day, so she was vaguely confused with herself when she reached his building. She furrowed her brow, moving to the side of the road so no one would bump into her. Why did she come here? Naruto wasn't anyone special to her, yet she felt the need to share her story with him. Hibiki shook her head, setting her shoulders straight as she decided that Naruto was a small part of her plan, but a part nonetheless. He was allowed to be informed if she so chose.

Hibiki found it odd that he wasn't jealous of her success as they sat in his kitchen. He'd invited her in, congratulating her with vigor and even going as far as to prepare ramen for the both of them. She rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she watched him rummage around his cabinets for something to add to the food.

"You'll be doing, like, real missions now, right?" Naruto asked, setting her food down in front of her, sloshing the juice over the rim, "Does that mean you can leave the village, 'bayo?"

Hibiki stirred her noodles, letting the nonsensical word he sometimes added to his sentences swim past her ears, "Mm.. Not anytime soon," She reminded him, "I haven't even started training yet."

"But you'll be doing missions sooner than I will! Aw, that's no fair, Hibiki-chan!" He pouted, but slurped his noodles without a care in the world.

Hibiki let him carry the conversation like she normally did, humming an answer when prompted and twitching a smile when he got excited. It was a strange concept to her that he was actually happy for her success. It made her chest feel warm. The thought of someone caring about her achievements was special to her, and she dumped the idea in the dirt as soon as the words appeared in her mind.

She couldn't afford to think too long on the feeling. If she did, she might begin to label him as indispensable one day.

* * *

As the little red haired girl leaned on the edge of her new balcony, she tipped her head towards the moon in fascination. The stars were shining brightly on the dark canvas, and it triggered a memory in her mind.

"Twinkle twinkle.. little star, how I wonder what you are," She said the lyrics with a rhythmic tone, her gaze captured by the scene. Her finger tips skimmed over the railing as she reminded herself how the song went.

"Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky." Her head tilted to the side, her eyes glazed over in thought, "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are."

When the song was over, silence once again filled her space. She could hear the short tap, tap, taps of shinobi jumping as quietly as they could on the roofs. Despite all her success throughout these few years, Hibiki found she was unsatisfied. She knew her idealistic plan would take years to perfectly perform, yet she was still a little annoyed by how little she accomplished. She was getting better at fighting, and her intellectual studies landed her at the top of the charts, even going to far as to land her an apprenticeship. Naruto was responding beautifully to her practiced hints and the other children had learned to trust her just by her name.

Yet.. she still felt so.. empty. It was a feeling that came and went throughout her days, so she was fairly used to it. But the feeling of a hole in her chest made her glare at the wall instead of sleep in the darkness of night. Why couldn't she be content with the work she had completed?, she asked herself as her eyes narrowed towards the familiar sky. Her work had only just begun, so she tried to force herself to coddle that thought, the murmurs of failure, however, lingered in the background of her mind humming a song of faux innocence.

* * *

So this chapter came out wonderfully. This actually wasn't the chapter I was going to release, but after I reread it a bunch of times, I changed my mind.

But anyways, yeah. Until next time?


	4. Chapter 4

Hibiki stretched her arms high above her head, her eyes gazing at the partly cloudy sky. She then lowered her arms so that she was bent over and touched her toes. She was trying to get in the extra training and stretching if she was needed to pass a test or something of the sort. She could barely remember Naruto and his team fighting with their sensei, but she also didn't really know if that applied to all instructors. But, just in case..

The minute she'd woken up, Hibiki put her hair up into a bun, not pestering with the refinements of it, and ate a small breakfast. She wasn't very hungry, and while she would put that off on nerves, she also had an idea of something similar. This was the first time she'd lived on her own in this world after years of being around a house with many kids. Hibiki knew how to take care of herself, but it was.. lonely without all the commotion.

She'd told herself not to worry about it, and continued her morning routine. Her apartment had come with all the necessities she'd need- fridge, oven, bed- and so on and so forth, so she didn't have to bother with going out and buying them. Actually, she was still caught up on the fact that they have such installments. It seemed a little before their time, but she realized that maybe it wasn't. They did have certain technology here. They just didn't use it too often.

With one last stretch to the sky, Hibiki sat down and began reached for her toes in a split fashion. She needed to be flexible, and working her legs in a way people probably didn't do here would help. After a few more variety of stretches, she took off in a sprint around training ground 23.

She heard a twig snap again, rolling her eyes at such childish mistakes. Hibiki knew her sensei was currently here watching her stretches. While she may not be an expert in sensing chakra, though she could at an extent, her sensei was positively disappointing. They only hid their chakra half way, and kept stepping on those ridiculous sticks. It was like they wanted Hibiki to know they were there.

Sweat dotted her forehead as she continued her sprints. She was irritated by her sensei being almost obvious in stealth. That was the entirety of their specialty and for them to continuously make idiotic mistakes was frustrating. Hibiki hadn't even met this person yet and they were already getting on her nerves. Just great.

Then again, they could possibly be testing her. On what, exactly, she wasn't sure. Maybe they had an ulterior move by making themselves known. If they wanted to introduce themselves, they could, but they decided not to. Maybe they were observing her skills, but that still didn't add up with the way they were making themselves known.

Another soft plop of a landing sounded in her ears and she snapped. Hibiki halted, her heels digging in the dirt as she turned in the direction of the trees and glared. It didn't matter if this sensei was trying to achieve something with these hints. It was infuriating.

"Could you be a little quieter, please?" Hibiki asked in her soft voice. A stunned silence drifted from the tree line. She was about to continue with her sprints when the person hopped out of the darkness and in front of her.

The woman blinked down at her, and Hibiki took this time to scan her over. Short brown hair, brown eyes, and a tall stature. The shinobi had their forehead protector wrapped around her, well, forehead, boringly. Standard green shinobi outfit, hiding the ANBU tattoo she knew was on her shoulder.. The woman looked ordinarily normal, except for- Ah. Hibiki zeroed in on the itching of a symbol under the band of cloth on her forehead. A Hyuuga.

"You're pretty perceptive, kid," She started off, her lips twitching up into a smile. Hibiki stayed silent, taking in the fidgeting woman in front of her.

The silence that dragged on after that created more tension from the Hyuuga. Hibiki was taking notice of the panic that seemed to be rising in the ANBU's body, slightly confused. What, was she scared of her? Hibiki didn't feel like a very big threat yet.

She wondered if maybe the Hokage had said something on her behavior and quick decision to her. It would be a poor accepted reason for why she seemed tense around the girl, but it wasn't unfounded. Hibiki felt a little disappointed that the fierce ANBU was nothing but a title.

"Ah.. This is gonna be weird," The Hyuuga announced, averting her eyes from her new student's gaze and rubbing the back of her neck. Hibiki didn't say anything still, gazing at the bandages underneath her shirt.

She was going to be trained by a Hyuuga. At first glance, this woman didn't look like much of anything especially with how she's been acting, but looks were deceiving. It was worrying that her teacher portrayed herself as not much of a threat. That meant she had to be very careful with what she said and did. Hyuuga, as she remembered and knew, were pretty perceptive. Eyeing the woman again, she deflated that idea slightly.

Well.. Having a Hyuuga as a teacher might strengthen her stealth ability in years to come. She'd become better at sneaking around people with someone who kept their eyes on things.

"Kaneshiro Hibiki," She introduced, tilting her head up in recognition. The lady blinked, but managed a small smile, twisting a peice of her hair around her finger.

"Ohayou, my name's Hyuuga Susano. I'm, ah, gonna be your sensei from now on," Susano rambled on. Hibiki allowed her to talk, watching her in fascination. It really was hard to tell she was a trained killer just by her looks. The Hyuuga sensed her staring and got nervous again, "I hope we get along well and I'll do my best to help you become the greatest shinobi I can."

Hibiki put on a charming smile, "Okay." It sent the woman into hysterics.

* * *

"White Eye in position. Are you ready?" A voice came through the small intercom in her ear.

"Hai," Came the short reply. Hibiki could almost hear the pout in her response after she said this.

"Hibiki-chan, you're supposed to say, 'Red Tail, in place," Susano grumbled. Hibiki rolled her eyes. After her sensei had gotten over the initial nervous behavior around her, she began being irritably verbal. Almost teasing, but without real meaning.

"Moving in," Hibiki ignored her, hearing a sigh over the intercom. She jumped from the post she was standing on and moved closer to her target. While D and C-rank missions may have been exercises for the real stuff, Hibiki felt she didn't need the practice. It was mostly just a waste to her.

Since she began her apprenticeship with Hyuuga Susano about a month back, Hibiki learned that she was wrong in her first approach to her teacher's behavior. There was a definite pattern, and the girl was still irritated by how easily she fell victim to it. It hadn't been a play or an ulterior movement.

Susano was literally just a nervous wreck. She didn't seem to have any reason for why she acted the way she did other than a theory Hibiki had been adding on to. Hyuuga traditions were fairly controlling in a serious way. She didn't doubt for a second that this tense attitude towards things was engraved in her mind.

Hibiki learned through this theory why she seemed more nervous around her, as well. While still young, Hibiki was pretty advanced in the light of things. She had a powerful, unwavering air around her that demanded recognition. It was hard not to be a little hesitant around the girl (unless you were Naruto, that is. The boy was far too optimistic on his chances of survival).

As she moved into her mission, Hibiki crossed over the street from building to building, keeping herself as hidden as she could. Her ability to be stealthy had grown from when she was just fumbling about. She was able to hide her chakra fully now, thanks to her profession. Susano had been very adamant on her learning this, and even taught her how to conceal herself without using as much chakra.

"Target spotted," Hibiki responded as she caught an eyeful of the brunette hair that moved through the crowd.

"Remember, we need to follow him to the meeting point before-"

"I'm going for it," Hibiki interrupted her, believing fully in her abilities. She heard scrambling on the other end of the com, a labored stutter trying to make itself known.

The brunette she was closing in on was a merchant son who was trading with a gang outside of Konoha. As for their location, the two teamed shinobi were in a small town just on the outer edge of the village. It was more of a trading hub than anything, so shinobi running missions were common. Merchant smuggling was another common thing, but it was usually taken care of quickly.

The boy was really stupid, actually. He'd left his name and address with one of the thugs that he was trading with in order for them to exchange goods. Hibiki didn't need to investigate much further than the front room of his house to get all the evidence she needed. She heaved a sigh under her breath, wanting to shake her head at such idiocy.

The man turned a corner to take a short cut through an ally way when Hibiki took action. Without a second to pity the terrified look on his face, she shot down from her temporary perch and knocked him off balance. He gasped as his legs were kicked under him, falling flat on his face with the box he'd been carrying spilling out beside him.

Hibiki jerked his arms back, a foot sturdy on his back as she held him down. The boy pleaded with her, but this only fueled her irritation for these missions with small town criminals. So she forced more pressure on his back, slowly pulling his arms back with it. He cried out again, and that was when Susano chose to step in.

"Very good, Hibiki-chan," Susano smiled timidly at the girl, trying not to show the bit of her that was disturbed by her subtle torture. She took over the situation gently, knocking the crying man out and observing the way her student released the grip she held over him.

"These are boring," Hibiki complained, her voice not going far above a whisper. She didn't care if her sensei could hear her or not. While she appreciated the given training, Hibiki by no means respected this quivering woman. It just wasn't in her nature.

"The missions, yeah," The Hyuuga picked the man up and threw him over her shoulder, nodding with her, "But they help tone your skills, so try not to take them for granted."

Susano glanced over at the red-haired girl who stood almost still beside her. Her brown eyes lowered to her fingers that tapped silently on her thigh. When she first saw the tick, Susano wanted to bring it up, but it seemed to be a way of keeping her calm without much of an explanation behind it.

She'd spoke vaguely about it to the Hokage on her last meeting with him, but he waved her off. He said that it would be normal for a child like Hibiki to develop a habit of some sort. It was common among orphans to create a way of making things real whether it be through excessive training or tapping on table tops before eating.

He smiled and suggested that maybe she was simply worried about her new student. Most new instructors were easily pulled in by their students and wanted to do everything they could to protect them. She agreed with him, deciding to let this habit slip through her routines.

"Let's get back to the village, okay?" She forced herself to smile at the mysterious kid, watching briefly as the tapping twitched to a stop.

"Mm."

* * *

"Focus, Naruto," Hibiki scolded, her arms crossed over her chest in a powerful intimidation. Her eyes were narrowed in on the blond's movements, taking in the small mistakes that had been built up over the years.

Sometimes she got really annoyed by the way people treated Naruto. Hibiki befriended Naruto with the intention of using him in some shape or form, and teachers who refused to refine years of incorrect motions before were ruining that. Well, ruining would be a strong word for it. Hibiki knew she was being over dramatic, but it was ridiculous to her how behind he was.

Naruto was quickly catching up to average, don't misunderstand that, but those damned habits of using the wrong stance or being in the wrong position at the incorrect time gave them a setback. Hibiki was currently working on improving these ticks, stopping him immediately each time he messed up. It irritated the both of them, but they both knew it was for the best.

"But Hibiki-chaaaan.. I'm sleepy," The boy whined, falling back on his butt and pouting to the earth. The redheaded girl repressed the urge to force him to stand up again, instead looking over at the sunset with a sigh.

They'd been working for hours. She supposed she could give him a break today and stop while they were still ahead. She'd mainly been toning up late reactions he had to oncoming attacks anyways. It left quite a few bruises on both of them, especially Naruto when Hibiki reacted too quickly for him to catch. The scatter of bruises she had were from the blond who decided he wanted to play dirty and catch her off guard.

Hibiki rolled her eyes, relaxing her tense shoulders by rolling the right one with her opposite hand. She walked across the grounds to Naruto, plopping down with unfamiliar carelessness. The boy blinked, but laid back on the ground when she made a similar movement. Hibiki closed her eyes and let the itchy grass blades tickle her back.

From training with her new sensei to training with Naruto plus the missions she'd been forced to go on the past month, Hibiki was exhausted. She woke up in the mornings just after the sun was up and stretched for an hour or two alone. Then she'd find Naruto asleep on her couch from waiting on her to get out of the shower. They'd go train for a few hours before she sprinted to grounds 23 to continue her training.

She'd been learning tree walking and water walking, one of which she already knew how to do since Naruto was a little shit as a kid and got himself stuck in trees. He'd cry for her and her alone, and long story short, she achieved tree walking pretty quick. Hibiki was also learning a B-rank jutsu that would conceal her physical form completely for a short amount of time. The time would increase as she practiced, but it was a hell of a jutsu to perform.

Naruto seemed to notice how tired she was because he stayed silent as they laid together. Hibiki had to admit, Naruto truly was a saint some days. He could be the most compassionate and understanding kid one second and she appreciated that. Then other days he wouldn't shut up and tested her limitations.

The pair dozed on the uneven ground for a few minutes, neither taking notice of the rapidly falling sun light. Hibiki's breathing was calm, and she could almost hear the beating of her own heart in the fading life of night time. She heard Naruto shift beside her, feeling his breath now directed on her right cheek.

"Ne, Hibiki-chan," He spoke up quietly, and it reminded her of the timid boy she'd met back when she was five.

"Hm?" She sounded just as quiet. Both of them could barely be heard behind the sounds of crickets chirping loudly in the grass.

Naruto was silent after she spoke which was unlike how he started conversations. Hibiki pried an eye open and turned on her side to look over at him curiously. He was staring at her with those wide blue eyes of his, a splash of color over his cheeks. Hibiki waited as she always did until he answered.

"Thanksforhelpingmetrainyou'rethebestfriendeverandI'lltotallypayyourbackforthis," His words sped together and Hibiki didn't understand a single thing he said. She raised an eyebrow at him, noticing the color of his cheeks darken in the faint light she had.

"Slower, please," She said in an airy tone. He fidgeted his shoulders, pulling the grass between his fingers as he averted her eyes. After a second he looked back at her, but she could tell he was probably looking behind her.

"Thanks for helping me train.. I know I'm a dead last who can't do much of anything, but I'm glad you're my friend and I'll totally pay you back for this one day," Naruto's voice was very serious, but with the way his eyes shifted from hers to the bench somewhere behind her she knew he was embarrassed.

Hibiki blinked at the sentiment. It wasn't everyday she heard the blond actually speak deeply without a ridiculous joke behind it. He sounded so sincere as well, which only made the lump in her throat grow. She tried to ignore the way the word 'friend' bubbled around in her stomach and averted her eyes to his hair, warmth tingling around her eyes.

"Don't be stupid, Naruto," She managed, showing him a genuine smile, "It's what friends are for."

Hibiki praised herself on the wording, using anything she could to pass through this moment unchanged. Unfortunately, she knew she was beginning to make a hole in her plans. If she didn't control these feelings in her gut and chest, she was going to make a mess of things. Hibiki twitched a last smile after his returning one and sat up carefully. She barely noticed when her fingers started to beat on her knees, a sign of her thoughts beginning to manifest.

* * *

Soo.. I didn't update for a while.

My bad.

Anyways, how was the chapter? I'm sort of in a bind of trying to put ideas in the order I want them to go in, but I also want to put in these scenes as well.

Ah, whatever. I'll figure it out.

Until next time?


	5. Chapter 5

"Take these to floor 4, please shinobi-san," A nurse chirped, dropping the box of supplies into her weak arms. Hibiki internally scowled, but flashed a helping smile, turning and walking down the hospital hallway for the fifth time that day.

Hibiki knew medic nins were valuable, she knew this, but sometimes the nurses were just too much. They acted as if they were the ones performing surgery's and being a help to the broken. Then the idiots would speak to her as though she was the one below them. It got pretty old really quick, to speed things up.

Carefully placing the brown box in the storage room of the lab, Hibiki brushed off the dust that she'd walked under when entering the room. They didn't need all this extra supplies, she glared at the numerous crates filling the room. If they really needed it, they could at least dust the doorways.

Hibiki grumbled something smart in a low tone, backing away from the shelf in order to get out of the dirty closet-like space. She turned her body to exit, but continued to glance one more time around. In the small amount of light she had down in the storage units, her hazel eyes caught a gleam in the corner of the room.

She straightened her back, changing the direction of her feet and nearing it. Most of everything down here was supposed to be in a box or crate. She squinted, approaching the corner hesitantly. It didn't matter to her what was down here in these crummy storage rooms.

Still.. She moved closer with a little more confidence. Today had been boring and she was fed up of the whole situation. Anything even the tiniest bit suspicious would be welcomed at the current time. However, when she inspected the micro sized metal box, she found curiosity bubble up inside her.

"It's just a box," Hibiki muttered to the space around her, her eyebrows shifting down. She slid her finger down the front of it, taking in the smooth texture before twisting it around in her hand.

Hibiki flipped it over three times before sighing in defeat. It was literally just a tiny metal box.. In a storage room.. Hibiki raised an eyebrow, looking down at the box in a new light. What if.. She inched chakra into the base of the box, her eyes beaming in delight as it popped open with a small clicking sound.

Though more carefully, the curiosity she felt only increased as she fiddled with the box. She curved her fingers around the end that shot out and pulled gently. She blinked as the figure of a small syringe filled to the brim took sight. The liquid was a light blue color, and Hibiki questioned it's existence a few times extensively before realizing she had no idea what it was.

Unfortunately, the answer to her question was interrupted by the opening of large double doors. The sound of high heels tapped down a few stairs before halting.

"Shinobi-san, are you done yet? We have another box that was just delivered," The same nurse from before looked bored as she briefly glanced to the doorway before her. Hibiki swiftly shut the box before it could reflect attention to itself.

"I'm coming," Hibiki replied evenly, tucking the mystery into her pocket. It was small enough that it couldn't be noticed, not that she was worrying. Why would someone ask what a shinobi has in their pockets?

Hibiki finished her shifts at the hospital about an hour after noon, multi tasking between following her duties and glancing down at the pocket that held the box. No one bothered to tell her goodbye when it did end, and she was free to hurry home without incidence.

The whole time she possessed the box, it felt like it was burning a hole in her pocket. She wanted to run home and experiment as soon as possible. It was predictably antibiotics, she imagined since it was in a storage room. But something in her mind told her that it was something more interesting than a virus killer.

It was rather unlucky for her to run into her sensei who seemed to be waiting for her at the end of the road. Susano waved cheerfully, and Hibiki sent the woman a blank look, hoping she'd assume the girl was tired and didn't want to interact. This was, of course, not the case. The brunette walked over to her and gave her a stretched smile. It looked fake.

"Hibiki-chan! I'm so glad I ran into you! So I went to the shop the other day and-" Hibiki zoned out, her fingers beginning to tap a melody on her lower back. She didn't bother trying to pay attention, figuring it would just be something to do with training. After what felt like hours, she snapped back into motion when Susano looked at her expectantly. Hibiki tried to recall what she said last, but decided upon flat out lying in the simplest fashion when that didn't work.

"Yes," She answered. Susano grinned brightly, to her surprise, and seemed to be floating on sunshine.

"Great! I expect you there by 7. Oh! And dress nice, please," Hibiki blinked, confusion overflowing on her face at the request. What had she just agreed to?

Susano smirked to herself. That girl needed to learn when to pay attention. Hibiki didn't catch the expression, only nodding after a moment. The Hyuuga wished the kid would stop digging her own grave, but then again it was pretty unusual to see her so lost. That made her shoulders tense the tiniest bit. She hoped nothing was wrong..

"See you then!" Susano called behind her, skipping off to prepare dinner. Hibiki stood still for another minute to try and comprehend what had just happened. She all but forgot about the box for the moment and started to head home, visualizing what she thought 'nice' entailed.

* * *

Hibiki shifted on her other foot, feeling rather out of place at the moment. Susano invited her to dinner at the Hyuuga Compound, that much she gathered since she'd tracked Susano back here. She fiddled with the hem of her kimono, wondering if she overdid it. She hadn't bothered to do her hair, instead leaving it down and hiding her face when she moved.

She kept on her ninja shoes, but now she was starting to wonder if wearing them was such a good idea. They were comfortable, and still pretty new. Plus, she didn't have any other pairs of shoes besides the slippers Naruto had claimed were hers at his home.

Either way, she'd agreed to this. Hibiki silently pondered if she could walk away before they noticed her out here. All it would take was a step or two backwards then she could high tail it home and hide in her bathroom. Her back luck continued, sadly, because she felt Susano's chakra spike from the inside.

Grumbling, Hibiki closed her eyes and knocked a fist on the door. She cracked them open when she heard a blur of a voice and the tapping of feet on the floor. It wasn't silent, so Hibiki theorized that a civilian woman was inside meaning Susano had a civilian mother.

It wasn't uncommon in the Hyuuga to have more civilians than other clans, so it wasn't much of a shock. The door opened carefully, and Hibiki was now looking up into the dark eyes of a well dressed woman. She had the darkest brown hair she'd seen in a while, and Hibiki imagined that Susano had come out with lighter her when she was born.

"Hello, you must be Hibiki-san," The woman smiled, "Please, come in."

Hibiki walked inside the house quietly, feeling uncomfortable around the polite woman. She should have invited Naruto to come with her. He would've jumped at the opportunity of a free home cooked meal. Though she also knew the Hyuuga would never allow Naruto inside the compound.

"Susu-chan is in the kitchen. You can go have a seat if you like," Hibiki took this as a hint to find her teacher and glare at her subtly while avoiding the woman's parents.

"I'm happy you're here, Hibiki-chan," Susano grinned from her place near the stove. Hibiki noticed it seemed to be somewhere she felt safe as her body slumped over the heat.

"I couldn't find the house," Hibiki chatted back, keeping on an intentionally bored expression. She could've been doing anything else besides this right now.

"It is further back. Gomen," She apologized, and that was when her mother moved to help her with the food.

"You put too much salt in it," The older woman scolded, "It could easily poison a family of slugs without tilting the spoon."

"Ka-san, I put the right amount in," Susano defended herself lightly, not taking her eyes off the pot.

"All I'm saying is that you went to tip and everything caved in on itself."

Hibiki decided she enjoyed Susano's mother, Hana, as she always said the most intelligent insults in the form of a joke. The entire time Susano cooked, Hana made some little remark after tasting the food. She could tell Susano didn't take them too seriously, and she had more patience than Hibiki would.

It was only when the food was done and the table was set that Hibiki noticed one important detail. Her eyes blinked over to the empty space beside Hana and noticed the amount of room she still gave it. Without a sound, she knew not to say anything about the way Hana and Susano avoided the area at all costs.

Hana loved to pick on Susano, she mused, but Hana also found joy in bringing her into the conversations. Hibiki forced a laugh and a smothered opinion after each question to her career. Was it a last resort? Did you like kuonichi classes? Things that Hibiki found irritating to even answer.

Susano found it hilarious. Hibiki shot a glare towards the brunette teacher as she waited for Hana to finish asking her if she enjoyed a certain fabric type over another. Susano giggled into her food, behind her napkin, and anywhere else she could pretend she wasn't laughing at Hibiki's misery.

"What about boys?" Hana raised two eyebrows, her eyes sparkling with a hidden knowledge. Hibiki wanted out of this house even if it cost her a week of intensive training.

"I want to focus on my career before anything happens," Hibiki shot her a dazzling smile, hoping maybe it would win the senile woman over and get her to wonder in silence.

"That's no way to think."

Hibiki stifled a groan as the lecture of sorts continued. The sun was making it's last appearance as it slid beyond the ground, but the conversations stayed right as rain. Susano made a new series of shields to cower behind each time Hibiki glared in her direction, and Hana didn't pause for a breath. Even after the plates were picked clean, the woman kept talking. Hibiki reminded herself to bring ear plugs if she ever returned.

* * *

Naruto drags her through the crowds of people in the mid afternoon, talking loudly the entire time. Hibiki mumbled apologizes as she rams into more than two people with his guidance, feeling particularly like a rag doll. She was nothing more than a training dummy that the blond continued to catch on other people.

Hibiki dodged another villager and tugged at Naruto's tight grip, almost causing him to fall backwards. He turns around and blinks at her, waiting until she got closer to open his mouth.

"What was that for dattebane?" He genuinely looked confused, and Hibiki had to shove down the need to roll her eyes.

"You're dragging me around," She pointed out, then scratched her cheek with her free hand, "Plus, you haven't told me where we're going." Naruto pouted, over dramatically rolling those blue eyes.

"I also said it was a surpriiiise, so stop complaining!"

Hibiki felt her eyebrow twitch, but made a royal motion for him to continue leading her to who knows where. It wasn't as if she had anything to do this afternoon. Might as well let him have his way. Naruto grinned, spouting something on her not regretting it and taking off again.

The little box she'd found three days ago had become a project of kinds. Hibiki didn't want to spill any of it in case it was useful, but she didn't know another way to see what it was used for. Instead of any physical tampering, she decided to read the medical books scattered for newbies in the hospital.

She researched the basic design of the liquid and since it was such a generalization, it took her near four hours of reading before she found anything. There was a page that was ripped out of a book describing medical liquids by color and danger level. Antibiotics and anesthetics were in the front, yada yada, and so on and so forth.

The book didn't mention the liquid in the box, but the ripped out page made her hopeful. She knew it was stupid to assume that the page contained information on the vile, yet it was a last stitch effort. If she hadn't found anything before that, she was going to begin testing the liquid herself.

Thankfully, Hibiki was able to backtrack the original selling place to a book store near the academy by the title. She figured that if she could find another copy, whatever was on that page would be there. However, the book she wanted to find had been bought just a few weeks back.

The pieces of this little box were coming together in suspiciously careful planning. Hibiki was simply hoping for something interesting inside the liquid, but now she understands that the liquid itself is a mystery. She wanted to investigate further, sadly her training and mission que seemed to double overnight and she didn't have any time.

So here she was, tired and bored as she let Naruto pull her like a sack of potatoes around the village. Naruto seemed to think she was hungry, and while she was, the restaurant in front of her made it ironically painful.

"Surprise! We're gonna have the best ramen in the whole world!" Naruto grinned at her, finally letting her hand fall to her side and throwing his own into the air. She tried not to look like she knew this would be their destination and breathed through her nose.

"Guess that means you're paying, mm, Naruto?"

That froze the boy, but he recovered as quick as he could by stating he would be paying. That surprised her, though she allowed him his wishes and agreed. Sure, she had extra money from the missions she kept taking. But if Naruto wanted to pay for their food, who was she to disagree?

The two climbed onto the stools inside of the little place, the old man greeting Naruto fondly. He teased the blond about having a pretty girl at his side, making him blush, but Hibiki countered the comment with a stab to his age. Of course, she was smiling all the while and it barely sounded like an insult with her voice.

Hibiki settled into her stool as she prepared for the conversations coming soon. On time, Naruto began to ramble about his Jiji. She listened adamantly, putting on a dreamy look of fascination as he talked. Hibiki didn't have any contacts as close to the Hokage as Naruto, and it was a time when she used him without him knowing it.

She'd ask simple questions while he talked; how was he today? Did he look tired? How much paperwork did he have on his desk? Was he smoking more than usual? Little things that Naruto didn't think twice about. He assumed she was just concerned for the Hokage's health which made him smile.

Hibiki nodded along with the blond, taking a small bite out of her bowl as she turned her head. She'd gotten chicken ramen like she always did, but she was sure Naruto had already eaten four different kinds. It was only a second later that her fingers tensed up, tightening around the chopsticks.

"ANBU Boar was there today too and he was telling Jiji about a rookie that was gaining ground in the ranks which is kinda weird but also pretty cool. I wasn't sure who he was talking about, but he seemed serious about it and Jiji looked like he knew who he was talking about," Naruto rambled, but Hibiki was able to decipher his words unlike others.

Her heart started to beat a step quicker, and her hands felt sweaty. Hibiki didn't remember any other rookie who was getting as advanced as she was. It made her gut clench in panic when she thought of the Hokage keeping tabs on her. It wasn't as if she didn't expect it, however she wished she'd had more time.

Hibiki didn't want to be catching the attention of unwanted company so early in the game. If the Hokage was watching her, he could either suspect something of her or believe she has potential. While it could easily be the latter, the former seemed to fit the situation perfectly. She knew she was one of the few early graduates, but checking up on people seemed to face people a rank higher than genin.

Calm down, she told herself, unclenching the chopsticks and take a steady bite. Yes, she might've been panicking on the inside, but she couldn't let it show on the outside if she wanted to keep her cover. If the Hokage was keeping a spy on her tail, she needed to be calm and collected.

She didn't want to give them a reason to fully watch over her. If anyone of the ANBU watched her on a daily basis, she would have to try and bring her levels back a notch. The worst thing that could happen on a good note would be a promotion. The worst thing that could happen on a bad note, however, would be catching the attention of a certain one eye'd man with bandages on.

* * *

Y'all in for a treat tonight. How about that for them apples. Another chapter is out and about.

Again, opinions? I love reviews.

Until next time kiddios


	6. Chapter 6

They were crawling on her again.

Hibiki weakly raised a hand to scratch her arm, the light that streamed into her bedroom showing multiple red scratch marks down the length of her body. She just couldn't get them off, and it frustrated her to tears every time she saw those little insects roaming around under her skin.

She hadn't slept in three days, not wanting to be caught off guard by the one eye'd man. She didn't know when he'd be watching her. She didn't know if he was watching her right now.

She dug her nails into her arms, wanting to rid herself of those damned bugs. Hibiki hadn't left for those three days, only scuttling around her apartment and hiding in her bathroom when she heard something different. Naruto had come by twice in the first day, but she told him she was sick.

She didn't have the heart to tell him she was being eaten alive. Susano had also knocked on the door yesterday, a cheery voice that caused another headache. Hibiki told her the same thing, not bothering to answer the door. After that, the third day has been currently empty and quiet.

But she couldn't stop. Every time she closed her eyes for a second, she thought she wouldn't be able to wake up again. If she fell asleep, Hibiki thought she could actually be harmed. That they'd try to catch her when she wasn't on guard. There was no doubt about it in her mind.

Somewhere in the back of her head, though, she knew this was ridiculous. Hiding away and forcing herself to not fall asleep was more harmful than effective. She was acting like a scared little kid, and she knew it.

Hibiki felt her eyes begin to water, but she blinked back the tears. She sniffled, huddling closer in on herself as she knew her emotions were running high. Sleep deprivation was extremely hard on the psyche.

Her feet shifted on the ground, her knees squeezing against each other. There had to be a different reason for this paranoia, she reasoned. There was no indication that she'd been followed anywhere. Plus this man who stated the fact could just be praising her. Or maybe he was following her for the Hokage to watch her progress.

She sniffled again, tugging her hair harshly to keep her head down. It didn't matter the reason. Or did it? Something bothered her about having such a strong reaction to this gossip. There was no logic she could piece together behind it, so why was she tearing herself down?

The hours she spent alone were filled with questions on every second of her behavior. She reviewed everything she'd done the past few weeks, then repeated it twice. She pressured herself to remember small details and asked a question for each one. She wanted to know what she'd done.

Did she even do anything? She honestly couldn't remember.

Hibiki had even begun to go through the ideas of her plans again. She hadn't done that in a long time since she usually didn't have much time to spare. They were pretty solid, and she knew there wasn't even a chance at failure unless she just completely fucked up.

What if she does fuck up? And she can't do it? Hibiki yanked her hair more harshly, digging her chin into her chest. What if she can't go through with the plan because of something she did? Hibiki wasn't sure she would know what to do if she ever failed.

And her whole deal with Naruto. What the fuck was that? Naruto would be a great ally, but what if he turned on her? He was the good guy, sure, but what if he ever found out about her plan? He might try to stop it. She'd have to do something about it, and the thought was not very enticing.

Then again, Naruto might just be swarmed with uncertainties and not take action against her. Assuming that he found out, which he wouldn't. Hibiki would make sure he wouldn't. That meant hiding things better. Studying would help as well, seeing as she hasn't picked up a book since she graduated.

She needed to get stronger. Stealthier. Smarter. She needed to get.. better.

Whatever that meant.

Hibiki blinked rapidly, causing the tears to run down her cheeks in lines. But then what would she be if she did fail? Not a god, that was for sure. She'd be a failure. She would most likely be imprisoned for life and not be able to do a damn thing about it. All her freedom, gone.

She shook her head, as if she was trying to convince someone they were wrong. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't mess up, and while that was a lot of pressure to do, it was her plan, so it had to work. Right?

It had to. Hibiki cringed as she felt something slither down from her neck to wrap around her arms. She could worry about her plan later. She needed to get these bugs out of her skin. She couldn't concentrate with them crawling around.

Her nails acted as claws as she raked them against her skin. She felt the tears building up as she began to have a child like tantrum, gulping down air as she forced herself not to hiccup. She scratched and scratched and she could feel the blood underneath her nails.

A hand grabbed her wrists, and Hibiki reacted instantly, kicking and shoving at the body seated in front of her. She was very weak, due to the days of doing nothing but succumbing to darkness, and the hits didn't do much. The person sighed, and Hibiki opened her eyes to see her sensei, watching her with concern.

"Calm down, Hibiki," Susano tried to soothe, crouching down in front of the fighting girl. Her eyes softened as she saw the dark circles under those pretty hazel eyes. She was afraid something like this would happen.

Susano continued muttering gentle words to her, not letting Hibiki kick her away. After a few moments of fussing, she began to calm down. The Hyuuga didn't release her grip, only pulling the girl closer to her and running a hand through her hair.

The older girl had been afraid of a breaking point like this. She knew everyone had one, and with the pressure on the kid to succeed it was obvious it would happen. She'd just hoped it wouldn't. Susano kept brushing out her hair with her fingers, keeping the contact at a minimum. She knew Hibiki didn't care much for it.

"No one's perfect," Susano sighed, letting the kid calm down before she took her to get her injuries checked out.

* * *

A day of rest came after this event and Hibiki felt slightly grateful to her overprotective sensei. She didn't know what came over her, and the confusion was now presented as white bandages lacing around her arms. The hospital didn't ask any questions, only the basics, and Susano left the entire cause and effect out.

Hibiki shuffled her feet, glancing down at the bandages on both her arms. It was a shame that it happened, but she supposed that was a mistake she'd have to question later. Right now, she was trying to learn a new jutsu from Susano who had decided this might be good for her to take her mind off it.

She held in a sigh as the Hyuuga continued to blabber about it. It was a ninjutsu type deal and so far from what she heard, it sounded sweet. Hibiki shifted to her other foot, keeping her face neutral. She was practically buzzing with excitement, not that she'd tell anyone.

She'd been put on light exercise for a day and every second of it was agonizing. However, she persevered and now she was allowed to learn something new. It felt good to finally get back on track to her goal. Each time she trained, it meant she was getting closer to finally winning.

The jutsu had three handseals, and then the real magic happened. Starting in the fingertips, the users body would become a hazardous model in the way. The jutsu made her bend a fire element into an electric that would become basically a shell of death. A touch and the enemy would feel the electricity courses through their veins. It was highly fatal, something that wasn't uncommon in an assassins arsenal.

Since she'd been training with Susano, she slowly began to recognize the speed at which her sensei was teaching her killing moves. It was essential, and she knew it would happen, but it was still a little strange. Hibiki already knew three quick ways of killing a person, one of which she'd known beforehand, and now it was time for a bigger one. It was exciting.

Now, Hibiki had a fire elemental. This meant her clan had a genetic affinity for fire, like how the Hyuga clan has a genetic affinity to a wind element. It didn't really mean much in the whole of things, but it did help when you were learning a technique fit with your affinity. Converting elementals wasn't as hard as you'd think, since they are just the things you can do easier. Mastering other types of elements, however, took a lot of practice and patience.

It was honestly pretty cool, she went back to the technique at hand, knowing how useful something like this would be. Hibiki memorized the seals, being extra careful as she practiced. While there weren't any side effects of the move, a mistake could cause paralyzation for a few minutes to an hour.

Susano stressed that part for a good minute. It sounded to her like she was trying to explain how awful paralyzation was, but she couldn't find the words to say it. She did, however, mention that she'd messed up a few times on it and was stuck defenseless on the battlefield. The blurred sadness in her brown eyes was enough to make Hibiki not wanna try.

If Hibiki had an uneven amount of chakra flowing around her, the conversion could be dispersed by the other. It would be a big shock to her internal system, but she could survive if it happened. She preferred not to take the chance, though. Being completely helpless was not on her list of favorite things to do.

Susano stayed around for the first few times she completed the seals, but she told her to keep practicing when she was called for a mission. Hibiki's only problem with the jutsu was evening out that chakra, however, she was doing quite well for her first time. Five hours later, and progress was finally being made.

Hibiki smiled brightly at the electricity flowing over her skin at the end of the day, sweat dripping down her face and her clothes stained with dirt. Her hair was sticking together after all the chakra and energy she used.

"Finally," She beamed to herself, barely noticing the way her vision blurred. She caught onto it a second later, but promptly passed out with the jutsu fading out of her control and into the air.

Susano jumped down from her perch, looking at the kid in worry. Her lips twitched into a smile herself at how cute Hibiki was without knowing it. She leaned over and picked up the kid, putting her on her back. She proceeded to walk with the unconscious girl on her back, taking her to the apartment near the market place. After she settles the kid on her bed, she tip toes out of the room to get back to her own home. Responsibility and all that.

* * *

Hibiki munches on a small cup of ramen, courtesy of the the blond himself. It was one of her only off days, and she was still wearing her pajamas. Today was as spring like as ever and a breeze fluttered into the room through her balcony door.

The girl's ankles ached, and her feet were just as bad. Susano had decided it would be the best time to learn how to dodge while in mid jutsu leaving her to dodge her sensei's own attacks while issuing one herself. Needless to say, she was bruised up pretty bad. She even had a few burns when she couldn't keep her jutsu even and had no time to dodge. Hibiki was still stuck on why Susano had thought fire jutsus were necessary when she was pretty much helpless, but figured she was just an ass.

She raised a hand, pinching the noodles together as she stared off in a daze. After her little episode a few days ago, Hibiki realized she still had no idea what was in that box. Actually, she'd left the clothes she had the box in on her floor when she went to take a shower. Then she'd been training up and forgot all about the clothes.

It was a good thing she remembered it, too. She recalled it being a very mysterious object, and she wanted to solve that equation quickly. Now it sat on her kitchen table, yet she had no idea what to do with it.

"It's been there a while.. And it was deliberately put there," Hibiki spoke softly, keeping her tone light as air.

She opened her mouth to take another bite, when it clicks. She sets her chop sticks down inside her bowl and picks up the box gently. She fiddles with it until she can open it again, seeing the blue liquid once more.

Hibiki turned the container around, glancing at the right side, then the left and spotting what she was searching for. It was an engraving of a number; J-112. A sense of excitement flutters like butterflies in her chest and the short girl shot out of her seat.

Engravings, she could work with. It meant someone had labeled this syringe especially for storage. It helped them keep their experiments in order so they could quickly find it if needed. It may not have seemed like much to anyone else, but this engraving had something a little more sinister.

The 2 in the engraving had a curve at the end, curling the line closer to the body. Hibiki didn't know of anyone else who created their 2's like a snake except one man. Orochimaru. Duh.

Research on the good doctor wouldn't be so easy to find, much less his experiment analysis notes. It would be an extremely difficult time getting to those files, if they even existed at all. The Hokage was and still is a senile old man who lets his sentiments get the best of him. He let Orochimaru go the first time, she wondered if he also protected his honor.

If Hibiki knew a place she could find records, she assumed it would be at the Hokage Tower itself. The man would be a fool if it was true, but she wouldn't complain if it gave her less work to do.

Hibiki shoved on her shoes, wincing at her still sore feet, fixed her outfit that she'd changed into, and stuffed the box into her pocket. She was about to run out the door and go to the library to see what she could find on Orochimaru himself. It would do good with start with the basics, then if it proved fruitless, she'd move to plan B.

She paused, her eyes zoning in on the still steaming noodles on her counter. With a roll of her eyes, she straightened up and picked up the box, slurping up a noodle. Hibiki carried it out of the apartment, figuring that she could fix all her problems by just taking it with her.

It didn't take long to get to the library. It also didn't take long to figure out that there was nothing on the good doctor anywhere inside. Not a single book mentions him beyond his last war which made him a Sannin. She hummed a sigh, picking up a book on ninjutsu and a book on genjutsu.

Hibiki knew it wouldn't work, but she still hoped it would. She pouted, trying to hide it behind her books as she strolled down the road. She hated planning sometimes because it was just so boring, even though it could also be interesting.

Resigned to her fate, Hibiki skirted along the outside of the ramen shop, hearing the side conversation of a certain teacher and student who were inside. She hummed quietly, and did a little early planning.

The files she needed were in the Hokage Tower, that much she was almost certain of. She'd seen the archives in her memories and knew they were there. Just hidden. It was ironic how militarized the old man's guilt was, but she allowed him that freedom. It made her job easier.

The next time she'd go out, she would take a few runs everyday near the Tower to memorize the shinobi routes were and where the ANBU were hiding. It wouldn't really be suspicious, plus she could drag Naruto along with her to increase his stamina. It would be a win-win situation really.

Getting inside would be easy, but getting to the level she needed would be the difficult part. A henge might work, she theorized, squinting her eyes at the sun. Lots of shinobi roamed the hallways during the day and at night; missions are around the clock. Plus, she rolled her eyes, Naruto as able to steal a large Forbidden scroll out of the Tower and still had enough time to learn the techniques. Hibiki could make a pretty good henge, but she wasn't sure she could fit scrolls onto it's body.

She needed to extract some of those files so if the liquid is something useful, no one will know what it is except her. Another win-win situation. She supposed she could just get bigger scrolls. No one would ask why she was getting larger scrolls since she was a shinobi.

Hibiki puffed her chest at the thought, feeling proud that she'd gained the title. Now all that was left was to get her promotion.

* * *

The blonde haired chuunin blinked at the voices behind the large open doors, keeping her back to the shadows. No one had noticed the fade out of her chakra since it had been too brief for them to catch, though she did freeze up at the risk. She felt her heart pick up in rhythm as she waited for them to speak again.

"She's very kind to him. She even helps him with his homework and training outside of school," A shinobi reported, his voice sounding distinctively familiar. She hadn't gotten a good look at his hair either. Now it was a guessing game.

"I see," The Hokage mumbles, and it sounded relieved, "Naruto hates homework, but it's something new to see him ask for help."

This was about her. Hibiki blinked her seemingly blue eyes and tried not to cringe. Though, with the way it seemed to be going, she started to question her previous fear.

"Kaneshiro-san seems to like dumplings, and Naruto indulges her as much as possible," The cool voice spoke again. The Hokage coughed, and Hibiki wondered if he was smiling.

"Very specific, but thank you anyways," He said kindly, and the sound of paper fluttered from a surface, "You're mission's done."

It was a little disconcerting that she'd been partly right when she believed they were watching her, but the reason was the thing that changed the perspective. They didn't expect her to be a traitor, the Hokage just wanted to make sure Naruto was in good hands. Even though he probably wasn't, she was safe for now. And they didn't suspect a thing.

Hibiki tried not to breathe a sigh of relief herself as she turned around and silently walked down to the exit. She couldn't help the smile on her face nor the wave she threw the desk lady as she walked through the doors. One foot in front of the other as she hummed a little tune, she admired how pretty the sky looked today.

All in all, she mused, today was a good day. Earlier, she'd put her plan into action and started to search for the mad scientist's files. Since she had already planned around the shinobi routes in the Tower, it was easy to get to where she needed to be. She was right about the location, the records being hidden underneath the interior of the Tower. The records she needed were hidden back behind an old vault in the wall. It was extremely sentimental, and it almost pained her to look at it.

She'd put a few silencing jutsu around the opening of the door, one of the first jutsu's Susano taught her that was used for a quick kill. It wasn't said, but more implied. It made a little noise when she shoved the vault out of her way, however it made more noise when she put it back. The way it'd been locked up told her no one would be going anywhere near it to check and see if the files were still there, so she didn't worry too much.

Hibiki skipped in her steps, coming out of an ally way without her henge on. The serial number on the box matched a page in the few remaining files they still had of Orochimaru's notes, but it didn't cause immediate joy to her. What the page said terrified her, yet she was overflowing with shocking excitement as well.

The liquid was made up of the genetic material of Senju DNA. Meaning, if she injected this into her own blood, she would be unmade by the overpowering Senju DNA and remade to inherit the wood style.

There were so many risks to following through with this plan. One, Orochimaru could've lied in his notes that said it worked. This was disproven seeing as she remembered an experiment he did that the liquid worked on one of the dozens of subjects he'd injected it. Two, she injects it into her blood and she can't control it. This would automatically result in her not being able to use it in battle. Three, it takes over her body and kills her instantly. Four,.. Five,..

There were a lot of risks. However, if it worked, she could level up in the game. It would be easy to tell the Hokage that she had a family of Senju's in her history and got the gene for it. However, that would lead to Danzo possibly finding out and trying to make her loyal to him.

The thought made her toes curl, so she tossed it out. She needed to train it alone, if she did get it, and she'd have to find a location she could train without anyone finding out. That would be the hard part. Then again, maybe it wouldn't be as hard as she thought.

Hibiki trudged into her apartment and sealed everything off, not wanting to be interrupted. She placed the scrolls on her table and opened them up, brushing the dust away from the paper. Her eyes scanned the words briefly, rereading the passage she'd found first that led to her discovery.

Brushing off her hands, she stands back up and walks to her kitchen to find something to drink. She rummaged in the fridge for a moment, not finding a drink, but instead an apple. She didn't really care what she had, as long as she had it, so she turned and walked back to the table.

"Time to research more.." She managed not to pout as she pulled herself to look closer at the text, taking a bite out of the apple.

* * *

So first up, this chapter should clear up a few things.

I want to make it very very clear that Hibiki isn't a god yet. She's only human, and an inexperienced one at that. I want you guys to understand that she has her own issues and freaks out over misunderstandings too, even if it's a little to the extreme. It's apart of her character.

Secondly, on the last chapter, for some reason, it won't show the lines separating each part. It's pretty annoying.

Enough complaining though. What'd y'all think? Until Next time?


	7. Chapter 7

A leg goes in the air, then falls back to the ground after a moment. Hibiki finished her last stretch and began to sprint around the training grounds. Susano was off on a mission for the week, so she was left to practice and ponder as the days drifted on.

The mutation in the syringe would most definitely help her in the grand scheme of things. It was a powerful ability, if you could control it, and it could give her an extreme advantage. No one would suspect a thing since she was positive only one person still alive had the same mutation; Yamato. And he wouldn't be able to tell the difference when she finally met him.

Still.. it was nerve-wracking. To be, or not to be, she ironically quoted. When she thought on it long enough, she only got more anxious. What if it didn't work? What if her DNA wasn't compatible with the mixture?

With a sigh, Hibiki plopped down on the ground, carefully pushing her hair back and out of her face. There wasn't anything productive about wasting time whining about it. If she could control it, that was that. If not, she'd figure something out. That was how she solved most of her problems, so why would this be any different?

Nine years of scheming and she would not allow herself to whimp out now.

She lazily reached over to the side, plucking her water off the ground and taking a sip. She was put the top back on when she paused, her face screwing up in pain. She raised a hand to her head, closing her eyes tightly. There was a sharp pain that focused in the front of her skull, but it was gone just as quick as it came. Hibiki theorized she was simply thinking too hard, but there was still a sense of wrongness that numbed her brain.

Her head jerked to the side, her eyes narrowing in on the sound of a rustle in the trees. Hibiki tried to spread her chakra out around the area to check if she was alone, but she curiously was. There was nothing there. She didn't let her guard down as she stood up, however, she decided she didn't want to deal with that paranoia bullshit right now.

She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her black pants and strolled out of the vicinity, her head slowly returning to normal. It was probably the wind that rustled the leaves, since the wind had been blowing the entire week. The sun had been down for a while now, and the tense atmosphere seemed to follow in her silhouette.

Hibiki reasoned that there couldn't be anyone watching her. The only people around were civilians and a few chunin, and they weren't giving her the light of day. She shifted her eyes from one point to another, just making sure that everything was good.

Unfortunately, it seemed that wasn't the case. Every few minutes, she'd hear a specific shift of feet in the dwindling crowds of people or the sound of metal clicking into place around her. Like nails on a chalkboard, she was drawn to it. In her mind, however, her thoughts shifted to why they sounded so loud in her ears.

She didn't flinch as they occurred, yet she was irritably on edge. There wasn't anything she could do to stop it even if she did know where they were coming from. For some reason, she couldn't ignore them.

As she was passing a store, the sound of a knife scrapping against something caused Hibiki to snap. She quickly side-stepped to the left to escape the sound that was in her right ear. She whipped her head around, prepared to fight off the source, but..

It was a fruit shop. Hibiki scanned the man who sliced the apple on the table into fourths, finding he hadn't even looked up at her. He must have felt her staring because he blinked a glare at her curious eyes.

"What? You gonna buy something?" He had stopped cutting up the fruit, and Hibiki didn't want to spend anymore time here. She shook her head without a response and continued forward.

The red-haired girl was quietly annoyed when she finally arrived at her apartment. She'd become so tense that it tired her out, not like her rigorous training earlier helped that either. She shut the door behind her and kicked off her shoes. Hibiki surveyed her small home and walked towards her room.

After a short glance out the window, she turns to her wooden dresser and opened up the middle drawer. There were multiple books scattered inside, all of them ranging from ninjutsu tips to the history of the hidden villages. Hibiki ignored the books for the moment and moved a few out of her way so she could reach the back.

She brushed her hand across the back of the drawer with a whisp of chakra on her fingertips before there was a soft click. Hibiki admired the effect as a scroll with the syringe inside rolled into her palm. Learning how to create things that only opened with specific chakra paid off.

Hibiki swatted a piece of her hair out of her face as she entered her bathroom, shutting the door. She opened the box itself and pulled out the syringe. Orochimaru was a sick man, and she had her doubts on this experiment.

She wrapped her fingers around the center, her eyes glazing over in thought. She didn't want to act too hastily. She still only had the basics of information on the chemical after all.

Crickets chirped outside of her windows as she pondered the needle. With a sigh, Hibiki moved to put it back up into the box. Certainties were needed in these situations. She set the syringe on the counter next to her soap and briefly glanced at it again.

She turned to her side to find the box sitting on her shelf where she'd left it. She reached out a hand to grab it when she was overwhelmed by a sickening amount of power. Hibiki choked at the breath the breath caught in her lungs and stumbled backwards, her arms carelessly gripping the counter for support.

She fell backwards onto the ground since she was caught off guard, the pain in her side being ignored as she tried to collect herself. Her eyes were wide with a strange fear lingering in the background. Her headache was back again, but she couldn't focus on it right that minute.

"What the hell.." She mumbled, her heart hammering in her chest. There had been a burst of chakra too quick for her to identify, way too close for comfort. But there had been no one near her. If that wasn't bad enough, there was an overexertion of killer intent that still trickled around her.

Hibiki flinched as she lifted her arm, deciding to handle the simpler things first. She blinked, dread creeping into her stomach as she observed the situation. The syringe she'd oh so carefully knocked down was embedded into her side. When she fell, the syringe had been pressed underneath her, the DNA being injected into her side.

"Looks like.. the choice was made for me," Hibiki forced out an ironic laugh, choking a second later on the fear clogging up her throat.

She gently pulled the needle out of her skin and noticed the small circle left behind. She was about to get up when she felt her body react. There was a lurch in her pulse, and her heart started to beat faster. She gulped down air with a gasp, physically feeling her DNA being destroyed and replaced. It continued on that way for another minute or so before she laid panting on her bathroom floor.

Well, that happened. She raised a hand to wipe the sweat that had appeared on her forehead, trying to shake off her trembling. Hibiki leaned on the counter to stand up, swallowing her nerves. While her mind raced with situations on all the ways she could go anymore wrong, Hibiki focused on the words she'd thought earlier.

What's done is done, she supposed. But now all that was left was to decide how she was going to react to the situation. She could panic and cry if she wanted to at the responsibility she now had seeing as it worked like she believed it would. Or, she could continue on with her plans knowing she had another secret to keep.

It was a charming thought to break down and be scared, but Hibiki had spent the days previous doing nothing but that. It wasn't enticing anymore, so she breathed deeply to herself and hid the box back where it belonged.

Hibiki shuffled closer to her bed and sat with her legs crossed underneath her. She tapped her fingers along the side of her bed frame as the option to try out her new ability won her over. She would have to try it eventually, she proposed. With a small nod, Hibiki struggled to remember how to begin.

At first, she tried a few hand symbols without any sign of the technique. She pouted when she realized just putting things together that she thought would mean something, actually didn't mean anything at all. Her mind flashed images of the first Hokage, thinking of how he didn't use hand signs at all.

Not using hand signs was a hard thing to learn, and it would take a lot of practice. Hibiki theorized situations and scenes that she could recall to see if she could avoid the extra training, but only one thought made the cut. What if, the wood style didn't use hand signs? Yes, she knew Yamato used them in the story, but he also never tried not using them.

Senju Hashirama was a very powerful man, and Hibiki was certain that she couldn't reach his level overnight. He had to have practiced this technique dozens of times in order to not use hand signs. It was a straining process, after all, but maybe she could bypass that.

What if she tried to bring out that raw natural chakra he used originally in the beginning of her practices to create her own version? There wasn't anything anywhere that said she couldn't, though there wasn't exactly a line of people who had succeeded in recreating the style.

For the rest of the night, her head never reached the pillow beside her. She sat on her bed, concentrating on bringing that raw energy out and pushing it into a mold. It didn't happen the first two hours, and it certainly didn't happen the next four.

Hibiki was sweating again from the amount of control she was trying to master. She squeezed her eyes shut as it dripped down the sides of her face and from her armpits. She was uncomfortably aware of the sticky feelings on her body, but she had to keep trying. She needed to prove to herself that she could do this.

The sun was high in the sky and Hibiki was exhausted. She fell back onto her bed, panting heavily after her idiotic burst of energy to rush the ability. So far, nothing had happened. She rolled on her side, blinking in the direction of her hand.

She huffed quietly and shut her eyes, clenching her fist shut. She wanted so badly to learn this style, to master it one day and be the great shinobi she needed to be. She needed to be able to do this. She sent a stream of chakra into her body again, her shoulders tensing at the strain. She was about out of chakra now.

Not a sound was heard, and Hibiki decided enough was enough. She had a bad habit of staying up when she should be sleeping and that was rest she needed. She bunched up her fists in the blankets underneath her, preparing to take the day off, and stopped.

She rubbed her thumb over the rest of her fingers again to confirm what she'd just felt. Hibiki opened her eyes slowly and felt her heart beat speed up. On her index finger of her left hand was a flower. A small, green stemmed red flower that shook with the air of her breath.

She'd done it. It wasn't big, and it wasn't important, but it was something. All the worries in her mind dispersed, and she was left to the exhausted happiness she couldn't contain. She focused on her hand again, feeling the last of her chakra trickle out of her body as she brought the flower back into her hand as though it'd never even appeared.

With moist eyes and tired limbs, Hibiki grinned with a sniff. She laughed into the air, throwing her arms back behind her and shrinking back into the pillows. The game had changed again. This time, however, it was in her favor.

* * *

Hibiki walked in a daze down the crowded roads of Konoha. Everything that happened the past few days was wearing her down, and she really needed a break. She was doing very well in controlling the inherited ability, but there were still large flaws in her work that could easily blow up in her face.

She'd crudely recreated another flower, but found it only came out as a wooden outline of the real thing. Hibiki learned that she'd only achieved the first flower because of pure spiritual energy. She'd been exhausted, running on the last handful of chakra in her body, but she didn't stop. Therefore, she was able to feed the technique and create something beautiful.

Hibiki didn't dare try any serious jutus just yet. She needed to test out her limitations and issues like any other jutsu she would learn step by step. She managed to create more tiny wooden spikes on her hands, but never another flower.

She would have to find her center within her spiritual energy in order to do what she wanted to. Almost passing out due to chakra exhaustion wasn't her favorite way of making a single flower. So she formed a habit of meditating whenever she could. This included when she was training Naruto, eating, or tuning out Susano's ramblings.

The tired girl put one foot in front of the other, tugging her hair with one hand while her shoulders drooped down in a relaxed position. She dodged the oncoming people slowly, and didn't bother to move for people she knew could sidestep around her.

The sun was still hanging by a thread in the sky without a cloud in sight. Hibiki had spent the majority of the day perfecting a jutsu for Susano and avoiding any responsibility that she could. She'd been overworking herself, so she took the initiative and set off to wander. So far, it had worked.

"Hibiki-chaaan!"

..Or maybe she spoke too soon.

With her head pulsing from the volume at which he yelled, Hibiki came to a stop and turned to look behind her. She was given half a second to recognize Naruto about to trample her and react. She stepped to the side, coincidentally doing a twirl as she watched him topple over.

What should've surprised her was the brunette boy coming to a stop close by without a certain pet. Hibiki looked Kiba once over and took note of a few things. His eyes were wide and kept switching back and forth as though he was looking for something. He looked panicked. Hibiki was too tired to realize what this would've meant.

"Hibiki-chan!" Naruto shot off the ground and bounced in front of her, "Kiba lost Akamaru and we need-"

"I didn't lose him!" Kiba quickly interrupted, flashing his teeth at the boy, "Someone took him! I saw it!"

"Yeah, so we're trying to find him," Naruto nodded, then blinked innocently at her, "You're not doing anything right? You gotta help us find Akamaru, Hibiki-chan!" He was pouting now.

"He could be in trouble or something! And you're really good at finding things, Bi-chan," Kiba reinforced, mustering up the saddest expression she'd ever seen. He'd even pulled out the nickname Naruto accidentally said in front of them all. Oh for fucks sake..

"Where did you last see him?" Hibiki asked with a sigh. She heard a clap of hands and then she was being led back to the training grounds where he said he had been practicing.

"We were racing but.. then Shino challenged me with those weird bugs of his so I had to fight him," Kiba whined, trying to prove he was innocent to the girl who didn't care.

Hibiki gave the field a look over, noticing the paw prints in the dirt stopping after a certain point. She glanced towards the direction in which they'd been going, but she can't pinpoint where with just a general direction.

"Naruto, where-" Hibiki turned to address the boys again, but instead found a proud looking Uchiha staring down the blond. Kiba rolled his eyes as they heard Naruto ask the kid what he was doing here in his loud voice.

"Training," Sasuke said plainly, and Hibiki understood where he was coming from. Being interrupted is annoying, but so was that attitude.

"We don't have time for you two to fight," Kiba snapped when the two boys started to argue back and forth, the main one getting angry being Naruto, of course. The two froze, remembering they had an audience.

"Right.. Sorry, Kiba," Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, ignoring the confused look the Uchiha sent him. Hibiki was too tired to be quiet and knew she wouldn't be going home until they found the dog.

"Akamaru is missing. Have you seen him?" She spoke to Sasuke, their eyes meeting. Naruto looked incredulous, but Kiba looked hopeful at the boy.

"Yeah, prodigy, have you seen him?" Kiba asked. Sasuke scanned the three of them then shook his head. She already knew this would be the case, however, it didn't hurt to ask. Hibiki stifled a sigh and looked at Kiba.

"Where next, then?" Kiba looked thoughtful as he pondered her question.

"I thought I smelled dog uphill," Sasuke spoke up, and Kiba blinked at him. The boy cleared his throat and turned his head to the side to avoid their stares, "He's probably at the park." Kiba brightened up at the information, wondering to himself how he could be so stupid.

"Of course! Come on Bi, Naruto!" Kiba took off down the road, Naruto scrambling to chase after him. Hibiki was about to follow them, but paused and looked back at Sasuke.

"Are you coming as well?" She asked politely, despite her urge to take the opportunity to leave. Naruto would no doubt find her again and Kiba would bug her until she helped them. Sasuke stared at her for a minute before making a sound under his breath and stepping forward.

With Sasuke in tow, Hibiki sprinted in the direction of the park. As they got closer, she caught a grimace of distaste on Sasuke's face and noticed a second later why it was there. Kiba and Naruto were speaking with Ino and Sakura, both pairs speaking over each other. It was enough to give her a headache as well.

"-That has nothing to do with it, Pig-face, we just need to find Aka-" Kiba rolled his eyes, being cut off by the blonde girl herself.

"Excuse me? You better apologize now before I beat you into the ground!" Ino sneered, and held up a fist. Sakura tried to pull her back, glancing nervously around before locking eyes with her. She looked relieved, but when she caught sight of Sasuke her face lit up red.

"S-Sasuke-san, Hibiki-san," Sakura greeted with the manners she'd grown up with and Ino paused in her rampage to look around the two boys. She gave him a bored look, glancing at Hibiki more than she did him. That was curious.

"Finally, you're here. You can put some manners into that mutt, right?" Ino huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Naruto, what did you two do?" Hibiki asked, standing next to him. She was observing Ino and Sakura more than the situation, honestly, because something seemed different about the interaction. Sakura was the only one blushing. Sasuke came to stand near her, ignoring the look Naruto gave him.

"Hibiki-chan! How could you bring him with you?" Naruto loudly said, pointing at the dark haird boy with a glare.

"Don't be a baby," Hibiki replied with her quiet voice, ignoring the smirk Sasuke shot towards the blond. Naruto pouted, and Kiba seemed to have enough with the small talk.

"Have you seen Akamaru around at all?" He asked directly, and Ino looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You lost Akamaru? Man, I thought you two were tight but then you go and lose him like that," Ino snickered to herself, and Kiba shot a remark right back at her. They shot names back and forth for a few minutes, Naruto glared at Sasuke and he returned the gesture, and Sakura stared confused at the group. Hibiki watched bored, wanting to know why exactly kids acted like they did.

"Dirt sniffer-"

"Long nosed-"

"Bad hair-"

"Blabbering-"

"Stupid-"

"So, Akamaru isn't here then?" Hibiki intervened, but didn't get a response back immediately. Eventually, the two girls did decide to help them find Akamaru when Ino put Kiba in a head lock. Hibiki still didn't understand why Ino was acting the way she was, but she couldn't find it in herself to do more than stare.

The group of six moved to the next place they thought Akamaru might be, calling his name when they got closer. The BBQ shop was almost empty, save two familiar faces in the back of the restaurant. Hibiki looked Shikamaru up and down as he did the same thing, meeting her eyes again when Naruto opened his mouth.

"Shikamaru, Choji! Have you seen Akamaru around?" His voice carried inside of the building, and the others cringed except for Hibiki who'd had more than enough experience with his tone.

"How should we know?" Shikamaru seemed just as tired as she was, but she knew he was just lazy.

"You could at least be polite, Shikamaru, you lazy-" Ino started to say, still seemingly riled up since her back and forth with Kiba. Sakura tugged on her friend's arm, shaking her head at her temper. Hibiki needed to figure out why they were still acting friendly. Shouldn't they have already had their fight over Sasuke?

"A-Actually, I thought I saw a dog go by earlier, but I don't know if it was him," Choji muttered, causing the attention to be put on him.

"Really? Which way?" Kiba rushed, his eyes gleaming widely.

"I think.. it was that way," Choji pointed to the right of the shop, and Naruto fist bumped the air. Sasuke rolled his eyes behind the blond's back, scoffing quietly at the overreaction.

"Let's go then!" Naruto was excited to help, and he grabbed Hibiki's hand as he charged forward. Kiba was right on their heels along with a disgruntled Sasuke and the two girls. Hibiki glanced backwards to see Choji seemingly asking if they should follow and Shikamaru agreeing after a moment.

Kiba put his nose in the air, sniffing the wind as they came to a crossroads. Ino made a comment about it, making Sakura reprimand her on being rude. Hibiki watched in fascination at the two girls as Kiba looked alert in his find.

"He was totally here before. He might still be around," Kiba announced excitedly, taking off down one road. Hibiki, Naruto, and Sasuke were behind him once again, this time the two boys deciding to have a race. She heard the others following closely and couldn't help but think they looked ridiculous.

They were a group of kids running in a pack with a boy who's nose was in the air leading the way. Two of the boys were glaring at each other as they ran and the rest of them were following without a second thought. Hibiki reminded herself that this was the reason she didn't associate with children much.

It didn't take long for Kiba to lead them around a few turns and into a more civilianized area of the village. Hibiki narrowed her eyes slightly as she pondered where exactly they were at. It looked familiar, but she couldn't place it at the moment.

The group split up to look around the scene near where Kiba smelled Akamaru. Sakura was sticking close to Ino as the blonde haired girl looked inside of a trashcan, pinching her nose at the smell. Shikamaru was seated on the ground against the wall, pretending to look under a bench. Choji was fidgeting in his spot near Kiba while the two searched around the trees.

"He's gotta be around here.." Naruto said from where he was searching in the bushes. Hibiki stood next to him, her and Sasuke the only ones not doing a thing. She couldn't be bothered and she believed Sasuke was thinking along the same lines.

"Maybe you're just wrong. He's obviously not here, so-" Ino straightened up and was about to point out more flaws in the situation when she paused. There was a familiar sounding bark behind the wall in front of Naruto, and everyone froze.

"Was that..?" Sakura mumbled confused, glancing at Shikamaru and Choji before looking back at Kiba.

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted, rushing the wall and jumping over it. One by one, the group hopped the wall and reached the other side to be greeted with the back of a house. Hibiki's lips twitched in amusement at the person sitting on the steps in front of them.

Akamaru was on his back, laying in a certain Hyuuga princess's lap as she stroked his stomach. The reason why the road had been so familiar to her was because it was the same route she'd taken to get to Susano's house. Hinata's face slowly became redder as the group stared at her making her release the happy dog at once.

"Hinata-chan, you took Akamaru?" Naruto asked bluntly. Hinata quickly waved her hands in front of her as she shook her head side to side.

"N-N-No, not at a-all! A-Akamaru was eating s-something when I w-walked by and h-he followed me h-home! I s-swear!" She squeaked.

"That's that, then," Sakura smiled at the others, hesitantly raising her head up. Hibiki zoned out of reality as Kiba picked up Akamaru and Ino teased Hinata. Her hazel eyes were zeroed in on the pink haired girl as she thought. There was definitely something off about this version of the girl, but Hibiki was almost positive she hadn't done a thing to create such a change. Perhaps.. other things had changed as well.

* * *

That happened.

So I originally had more to go with this chapter, but I wanted to give little Hibiki a break and show some of the cracks that followed her into this life.

Mysteries, dawg.

Until next time?


	8. Chapter 8

Hibiki closes her eyes, her back resting against the grassy hill Naruto made them stop at. She could feel the ground secure underneath her and for a moment she was amazed with the simplicity of nature. In her left ear, she could hear Naruto plucking at the grass with his fingers.

The sun was shining behind her eyelids and the warm breeze tickled her arms. She was wearing one of her more loose shirts with some black training pants. The two of them were supposed to be working on Naruto's balance today, but one thing led to another and they both found themselves relaxing away from the noise of the village.

It was still early in the morning, so it was no wonder that Naruto fell asleep almost instantly upon reaching the hill. He'd woken up a few minutes ago when a dragonfly landed on his nose, and Hibiki tried not to smile too much.

Although with it being earlier than most people woke up, despite the many who did, the village was like a desolate mountain of whispering trees. The old spoke to the young, and the wind danced over it all. Rather poetic, she thought, if you looked hard enough. The silence was the only thing she needed, however.

What a nice day for a-

_**thief-**_

relaxing rest on a hill like she was a-

_**fake-**_

civilian.

Hibiki squeezed her eyes a little tighter. Of course something had to ruin the short second of peace she had. The whispering words of the elders, of him. The accusations drifted in one ear and bounced around in her head for a while. If they ever found out about her little experiment..

Well, there goes her break.

The experiment can't even be called that anymore. It was technically her hidden ability now that she could basically control it. The wood style was incredibly hard to accomplish, but she was doing fairly well at learning it step by step. Practice made perfect, and soon she would be able to try out simple jutsus.

That was a scary thought. She was still looking around for a place she could practice, but so far she hasn't seen a thing. She could turn her hand into wood in her bedroom, but creating a tree in her apartment would make things very difficult to explain to her landlord.

All that information made her nauseous. If anyone ever found out she not only had this extinct style, but she also knew how to control it, things wouldn't be in her favor. The thought of being hunted down by someone outside the village (or even someone inside) like she was the last Uchiha wasn't something she dreamed about. That would slow progress on the whole world domination plan.

She needs to be able to control it just as easily as she can wave her hand. It would be an essential asset in her success. Unfortunately, that meant locating information that she wasn't sure even existed. She very much doubted the First Hokage wrote down the steps to learning a jutsu with the wood style since he was, after all, the only one who had it. Unless he had a bad memory, notes would have been the least of his worries.

Speaking of Hokages, that brought to mind the politics in this military village. Politics weren't ever her favorite thing in this world nor her old one. Hibiki found that politics were similar to spoiled children fighting on a playground, so you can understand why she chose to exclude politics in her plan. So, with Naruto, she hopefully wouldn't need to be directly involved at all.

Still, it was unnerving to consider the thought of being brought directly in front of the council. Danzo had a terrifying amount of influence and power over decisions. One word from him could go either way depending on how he wished. Did no one else see how corrupt he was? He did create a secret military army behind everyone's back. Did people just forget about that?

Danzo brought up another fierce face. Uchiha Obito. Hibiki couldn't remember anything of what he did, assuming nothing had changed this time around which was very unlikely since things had already begun to change. The unknown scared her more than he himself did.

She felt her heart speed up again at the name of the man. The one behind him wasn't any better at all. Uchiha Madara, otherwise known as the scariest dude in all of 'Naruto'. She gripped the grass underneath her fingers, taking out her nerves on the ground.

Then she felt a nudge.

Hibiki's eyes fluttered open and she looked over at Naruto who'd become very close. He was crouching close to her face, a determined expression painted on his features. He nudged her again and she dropped her eyes downwards to see a single flower pinched between his fingers.

It was a bright yellow poppy, and the stem was crooked because Naruto had obviously plucked it too hard. There were tons of them around, considering they were in a poppy field, but Hibiki couldn't help acting as though it was the first to be seen in years. She was a sucker for gifts.

"Take it," Naruto said, moving it closer to her. Hibiki wasn't sure if she should.

She knew Naruto could be serious every once and a while. There were times when something's gone wrong and he makes it his duty to help out. It was still a shocking surprise from the regular go lucky blond.

Hibiki takes the flower carefully, having already sat up when he moved it closer. Acting like the flower had a bomb attached to it, she notices the way he was turning a different shade of red. She opens her mouth to say something, but he cuts her off.

"Sometimes you get sad. And you don't tell anybody.. But that's not good, Hibiki-chan," Naruto confessed, shifting the way he sat. Hibiki watches him carefully, wondering what his play was. She sighed and shifted her view back to the sky, laying her head on the grass once more with the flower laying on her stomach.

"It doesn't matter.." She mumbles, unable to find it in herself to create a charming persona. She was too tired right now. He was quiet for a moment, and she wondered if he would leave it alone. That would be very unlike him.

"Of course it matters," Hibiki blinked repeatedly as she saw the angry look on his face. He seemed upset that she didn't care for her emotions, and there was no doubt in her mind that he was about to make her see that. He raised his chin a bit, "I don't.. know what goes on in your head," He admits, balling his hands into fists, "But you're my friend, Hibiki-chan."

Hibiki stays silent.

"You're my best friend, 'bayo.." He mutters as his chin digs into his chest. His eyes searched the fabric of his pants as though they had the answers he wanted, "And.. I won't let you be sad!" He announced, lifting his head to stare at her.

It took a minute for Hibiki to realize her eyes were watering. She squeezed her eyes shut and put an arm over her face to hide the reaction. She didn't want to cry, but it seemed that it wasn't her choice. She swallowed her emotions and sat up, shaking her head.

"A-Always the hero.." She retorted ruefully, yet there was no real hatred behind her words. Naruto smiled sheepishly, a little laugh echoing from his lips, and tackled her in a hug.

"We're best friends, 'bayo, so of course I'm going to be your hero!" Hibiki didn't want to correct him. Everyone needed a break sometimes.

* * *

She inches a book out of it's place beside the many others. Hibiki was currently in a book store, scanning the shelves for a certain title. She expected to find it sooner than this, but that was the problem with these local shops. The books weren't put in any sort of order and it was very difficult to find something specific.

She clicked her tongue, seeing that another book she'd found wasn't the one she was looking for. She squeezes it back into the spot it sat and flickered her eyes down the row of material.

It was so hard to find a good strategy book these days. She figured there would be some text on the topic, but it seemed to be more complicated than she thought. People just didn't write about tactics or options. They wrote about romance and adventure.

Hibiki stole a glance over at the stack of books displayed near the entrance. She was surprised to say that shinobi were much more focused on the newest series of Icha Icha than learning of ways to predict a situation. She could admit that they were well written, having read one or two before, but it was still an annoyance at the moment.

She tapped her fingers against the shelf's base, trying to think where else she could look. There was a possibility that she could find one in another store. She'd only been to, what, ten stores this week.

The results of each always ended the same with empty arms. Well, that wasn't true since the last store she went to, she picked up the latest edition of the current distraction. What could she say. Jiraiya was a detailed writer.

"Ano, Hibiki-san," Said girl looked up and over to where her name was called. She blinked at the sight of pink hair and focused in on Sakura's face.

"Sakura," She greeted a second later. She shifted her feet to face her when she noticed the bag swinging by her side, "Did you find what you needed?" She asked curiously, feeling slight deja vu.

"I did," Sakura smiled slowly. She noticed the way Hibiki was empty handed and motioned to the shelf timidly, "You, ah, didn't find what you wanted yet?" She shook her head and shrugged.

"I'll just have to check the next store, I guess," She was looking the girl over to check for any differences. That was what she usually did around the kid nowadays. After figuring out that Ino and Sakura were still the best of friends, she did a little digging and found out they didn't seem to be changing that any time soon.

"What is it you're looking for?" Sakura asked, referring to the books she seemed interested in. Hibiki hm'd to herself and shrugged.

"I wanted to find some books on strategy," She said simply. It wouldn't be something odd considering her line of work. Sakura nodded, then gave a thoughtful expression her way.

"Have you asked Shikamaru?" She suggested, "His family is built on strategy, after all. Maybe he'd lend you something out of their clan archives," She smiled carefully.

Hibiki gave her a look, wondering if she was serious. Sometimes she forgot that Sakura came from a civilian family instead of a clan of shinobi. Anyone who did plus herself knew that clans protected their archives as closely as they did their own secrets.

Not to mention Shikamaru suspected her of foul play.

"I don't think that'd be such a good idea," Hibiki shook her head, "I'm not that close to.. Shikamaru. I don't think I'd be welcomed."

Sakura furrowed her brows, but nodded, "Oh. I suppose that's true." She seemed to hesitate on her next sentence, and the other girl was getting bored, "I could.. I could help you find a book," Hibiki blinked. Sakura's face flushed red and she fidgeted in her spot, "I-I mean, I'm sure there's something here that pertain to strategy and two heads are better than one, r-right?"

Hibiki disagreed with that statement, but pretended to think about it. It wouldn't really hurt her in any way to agree to the help. The most it would do would put her in the presence of the girl for longer than desired. The library was big, though, so perhaps it would do some good.

"Alright," She slides her hand off of the shelf and motions behind her, "I've already checked this end," She advised. Sakura nodded and gave another small smile.

"Hai."

For the next thirty minutes, the two shuffled through the library, checking each title and summary page quickly. Hibiki had forgotten that Sakura was actually pretty intelligent when it came to books. It was a lucky compromise. As they worked, Sakura timidly inquired about the others interests.

"Mm? Ah.. I like dumplings," She answered, reading the front of another book.

"Really? I do too. My favorite kind is syrup-coated anko dumplings," Sakura beams. Hibiki sneaks a peek at her happy face, then turns away.

"The candy ones taste good," She admits, not seeing why it was such a big deal. It was just food. She runs a finger down the spine of a larger book as Sakura replies.

"Those are good too," The girl agrees, "I went to a festival a while back when I was a kid and they had a booth set up. There were all kinds of dumplings ranging from fruits to candy, and they were all free," Sakura had a dreamy look on her face as she delved into the memory. Hibiki shifts her stance, taking a step or two to the right.

"I've never been to a festival," She continues the line of thought. Sakura gasped, and Hibiki tensed at the sudden noise.

"Never? That's so sad.." Sakura shakes her head as though it were the worst thing she could think of. The redhead knew there were worse things in this world than not going to a festival. Things such as dying or being killed. Sakura didn't seem to get the memo.

"I didn't want to go anyways," Hibiki stressed, trying to ignore the tightness in her chest. She didn't have time to attend an event like that. She had more important things to do than play for prizes or watch fireworks break in the air.

"Nonesense," Sakura stuck her nose in the sky, closing her eyes for a second, "You need to experience it. The next festival we have, you're coming with me and Ino," She announced confidently.

Hibiki raised an eyebrow. The pink haired girl's face burst into red again. Hibiki used her foot to scratch her ankle, thinking over the exclamation. It was rather bold of her considering her apparent shy nature.

"I-It wouldn't h-hurt.. It'd be f-fun," Sakura tried to reinforce, almost shrinking back from the other. Hibiki stared at her, feeling the small jagged pages in a book that rested in her hands.

"Ah.. I guess," She finally accepted, turning away from her wide eyes and blooming smile.

"That's great!" Sakura exclaimed, glowing with new happiness. Hibiki wasn't sure why she said the opposite of what she'd planned to say to the proposal.

* * *

Her glazed over hazel eyes gleam under the dim light brought in from the sun setting quickly outside. She rolled her fingers over the plate in her grasp and scrubbed another stain clean. She was humming under her breath, too absorbed in her thoughts to properly pay attention to anything else.

"A.. tale as old as time," She starts hesitantly, hoping she got the words right, "True as it can be. Then some body.. bends. Unexpectedly."

The words sounded right, but there was still some stutter. It was harder to remember silly things like that from her old life. It'd been years since she thought long and hard on such things. They were useless to know, yet there was some familiarity to it that kept her coming back.

Hibiki shifts the foot she's standing on and leans further over her dishes. She liked the beat that the song had, however, she had no idea where she remembered it from. Maybe a book or something. Maybe it was just a song.

She moves one plate out of the sink to start on the next. Carefully, she washes out the cup with a rag she'd gotten from the store down the street.

"It'd be better if I could remember more than this," Her eyes roll and she shakes her head. It was fine with her to figure out what happens as they happen, but it didn't make the unknown any less of a mystery. It still bothered her, like a puzzle that needs one last piece.

The girl whose hair had grown another inch narrowed her eyes. Very quietly, she could hear a rustle of doors where her balcony was. Was someone trying to sneak up on her? They were doing a poor job of it, if that was the case.

She listens as footsteps creep closer to the kitchen. They were light, so the person was probably around her size. That was strange. Then again, she shifted her feet again, acting like she didn't hear a thing. The steps stopped for a second, and she silently sighed.

The 'attack' came a moment later, the sound of wind speeding up as the 'intruder' jumps behind her. Her feet react for her and she's out of the way in a split second, grabbing the back of the person's clothes as they step into her place. They make a sound as she swipes her foot underneath their legs and pushes them to the floor, planting a foot firmly on his back.

Hibiki blinks the image of another man from her eyes as she remembers a similar situation not to long ago. Guess history liked to repeat itself.

"Ah! Hibiki-chan! You're so fast," Naruto whines below her foot. She takes her weight off of his back and raises an eyebrow. He was wearing pajamas, and, to make it stranger, an animal hat on his head.

"What're you doing?" She asks curiously. He stands up, using the hand she offered to balance himself, and laughs awkwardly.

"I was.. uh.."

"Naruto?" She was confused. It wasn't often that Naruto showed up in his pajamas. Well, that was a lie. He came over at least three times a week for one reason or another.

"There was this.." He spoke as though he couldn't form a sentence. Hibiki tried to understand what he was trying to say, but was left in the dark.

He looked awake, so he must've been trying to go to sleep before this. He didn't look like he was having trouble sleeping, since there were no bags under his eyes and his body didn't slouch anymore than it usually did. Actually, he looked very awake. She mused the thought of a nightmare jolting him up.

"..A ghost?" She repeats when he mutters what spooked him, "But, ghosts don't exist," She shakes her head, not getting why he was so afraid of something that couldn't be proven.

"You didn't see it! It was like a shadow and it was sooo creepy!" He shivers for effect. He was using his hands to direct the way it happened, but Hibiki deducted that he'd seen a spot of black and freaked out.

Sadly for her, Naruto wouldn't accept that. He pushed her out of the front door and across the street to his apartment, saying she had to see it for herself. She could've turned around whenever she wanted to, but he would most likely just drag her back.

"O-Over there," He points into his bedroom to the back corner. Hibiki wants to shrug off his hands which were gripping her shoulders from where he was hiding behind her. She figured it would only make things worse.

"I don't see anything, Naruto," She sighs. He insists that she needed to check more thoroughly, so she moved in closer. She's in the dark corner a moment later, looking for a shadow that she knew wasn't there. She felt ridiculous.

"D-Do you see it?" He asks from the door entrance. Hibiki thinks she should scare the blond just for making her check an empty corner, but her conscience prevails and reasons that if she were to scare him any more, he'd cry.

"Nope," She smooths through her irritation. She turns back around to gaze at the hesitant look on his face. He was supposed to be a shinobi for fucks sake.

"You're sure?" Naruto interrogates. She nods.

"No ghost."

"Not even.. a shadow?"

"Just the absence of light."

Naruto debated with himself on whether or not to believe her, but eventually comes to the conclusion that she's usually right anyways. He nods too, grunting an 'okay' in her direction.

Hibiki wants to hit herself. Really. This was the savior of the world, fearing over a shadow in the corner of his room. What was next, making her check the closet for monsters? She wouldn't even bring it up in fear that he would actually fall for it.

"I need to finish washing dishes," She sighs, running a hand through her hair. She was about to turn and leave out his window, but he yelps in protest. The next that she knows, he's wrapped around her arm and refusing to let her leave.

"What if it comes back? You can't leave me alone with it, Hibiki-chan! It might eat me!" The expression on his face was pathetic. She couldn't believe that he was begging her not to leave him with absolutely nothing.

"Naruto, there wasn't anything there in the first place," She tries to convince him, shining a reassuring smile.

"I know what I saw.." He grumbled. She almost groaned, her mask cracking at the statement.

On one hand, if she just knocked him out and left, he'd probably complain at their practice tomorrow. On the other, if she just let him have what he wanted, she would be stuck listening to him snore during the night.

She wasn't in the mood for an early morning filled with whines from the boy. No one actually likes mornings, after all. The decision was obvious, but it still didn't lessen her annoyance with the request.

"Then what do you want me to do about it?" She asks him plainly, already knowing the answer.

"You can stay the night," He beams, suddenly excited. He takes the thought of her not instantly rejecting him to heart and begins to ramble on about how cool it'll be to have a sleepover.

A few minutes later, Hibiki finds herself sharing a small blanket with Naruto on his tiny bed, back to back. How did she end up like this again, she wonders, blowing a piece of hair out of her face. It wasn't long until he eventually did start snoring, and she found out he also likes to take all the blankets.

She didn't care much for that and took her share of the covers away from him, keeping an iron grip on the hem. If she was stuck here for tonight, she wasn't going to be left without a blanket. Remind me to buy him another blanket the next time this happens, she tells herself.

Darkness drifted around the room like a fog near the ground. She shifted her position on the bed, blinking over at his wall. She wasn't as tired as he was, so it left her with empty moments to fill.

She was just beginning to go through the first steps of her plan again when Naruto wiggled behind her. He was pulling the blankets again, she rolled her eyes. She kicks him lightly under the covers and he stops, the air being softened when he mumbles incoherently.

After that, it was hard to forget again that he wasn't there. She was aware of his breathing pattern as it seeped out of his lungs. She noticed the way he kept moving his legs and feet, brushing them against her every time. It was difficult to focus on her thoughts when she felt so alive in that moment.

Hibiki closes her eyes, sinking into the bed as she puffs out another breath. She wasn't oblivious enough to not know what she was feeling in that moment. She felt content. It was a dangerous glance into _his _world, and she refused to look at it too much before it ruined her.

Still.. She counted the beats of his heart as they echoed through his back. Soon enough she was lulled to sleep, not bothering to put up any defenses like she usually did in the room.

* * *

Ahh. I forgot to update.

Shame on me.

But here it is, a new chapter to judge. Whatcha think?

Until next time?


	9. Chapter 9

Ahh. I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you that these are sort of like little excerpts throughout the years leading up to the graduation arc. I apologize if that threw anyone off, but that's how it was meant to be. I forget things sometimes . Alsoo long chapter

* * *

Susano hums quietly, trying her hardest not to tug too hard on Hibiki's hair. She brushed through it once more and used her fingers to untangle a knot or two. She was positively beaming at the mere idea of playing with Hibiki's hair, so actually doing it was a treat.

Hibiki, however, was glaring blankly at the flooring of Susano's house. She didn't mind looking pretty and charming others into a specific corner. She wasn't opposed to fooling people at all really, but this wasn't to her advantage.

"Hah?"

A grin bloomed on Susano's face as she listened to their Hokage speak the terms of the mission. She could already see little Hibiki in a cute little kimono with her hair curled and put up. She was practically shaking from excitement. She got to dress her up, then send her into enemy territory. That may not have been the best thing to be excited about, but the first part was fun.

Of course, she'd be there on the scene in case anything happened. The elder Hyuga glanced down at her own military uniform that she was to wear with her role of guardian. The Hokage noticed the look on the younger girl's face and backed up the assignment with a, 'It'll help with your training.'

Hibiki, though she could see the logic, hated being put in the center of attention to be oogled at by rich boys playing follow the leader. She tried keeping her face blank through the briefing, but she was sure her manners informed them of her feelings toward the mission. Either way, they didn't seem to notice.

"This is stupid," She mutters, and Susano tries not to laugh.

"Everything will be okay, Hibiki-chan. I'll be there to protect you," Despite her words, Hibiki only felt annoyed. She was forced to play the quiet, polite clan princess from Konoha who was invited over for tea to discuss inheritance. It was a helpless position in which she wasn't allowed to talk, nor fight back if threatened.

No hidden weapons, nor motives. She was to sit in silence unless spoken to first, and not prompt conversation unless it was prompted by someone else. It was absolutely ridiculous.

But that wasn't the 'best' part. She couldn't even spend the time getting there running and burning off steam. She had to sit inside of a little carriage jail that was there to 'protect her' from enemy shinobi until she got there. With no way to vent her irritation, she was forced to deal with it. Not fun.

They got to the village gates a quarter passed nine with their abundance of food and her chariot awaited her. She could hear a few of the guardsmen snickering at her, so she shot them a glare. Susano flicked her on the back of her head, however, which meant she didn't have the opportunity to get revenge.

The seats were too squishy. The walls were pale, and the pillows inside were too soft. She crossed her arms, raising her chin to the sky. She tapped her finger on the side of her arm as she fumed in the little area given to her.

She didn't have a problem with the mission, really. It was standard disguise detail. The part she didn't like was being weaponless inside of enemy lines. Sure, she had a couple of good ninjutsu she could use to escape a bind, but the point of the mission was to not make a mess.

If push came to shove, she could use the wood style to silently get rid of any suspicious characters. Hibiki hoped it wouldn't come to that, though, since she wasn't sure who could be watching her while she was there. She did not want to be caught using that anywhere near a living enemy.

Breathing out through her nose, she tried to calm down. The place they were going wasn't too far outside of the Land of Fire, but it was far enough that she could probably meditate for a while. Yeah, she thought, that would be a good idea.

So for the rest of their trip, transitioning around meals and stops, she meditated in that dreaded box. She was getting better at pulling her spiritual chakra out each time she practiced. That was great because when she'd first started meditating, it took forever to even find it. Sometimes chakra was very fickle.

"How are you holding up, Hibiki-chan?" Susano smiles patiently as Hibiki ignored her. After another minute, the girl cracked open an eye to look through the hole on the front of the carriage to see her sensei.

"Fine," She replies in a dry tone.

"I know it'll be awful, but it won't be for long. Just an couple of hours then we can go home," She sounded so chipper. It wasn't as if she was the one playing a doll. Hibiki closes her eyes again and hums.

Lately, she'd been hearing all these different melodies in her dreams. Songs with lyrics she could sometimes remember, sometimes not. She would get déjà vu when she heard a certain sentence, as though she'd read it in a book before or something.

Little things that didn't really matter, she supposed. She still liked to pay attention to them, even though they wouldn't really get her anywhere in life. They were comforting. A little reminder that she alone could think back on.

"We're here," Susano's voice broke her train of thought and she blinked her eyes open. Sure enough, they were at the checkpoint for the little town she was to act in. They wagon pulled closer and she heard Susano jump off to address them.

A moment or two later, she heard Susano speaking with them about their reason for traveling. It stuck close to the truth they'd chosen, and Hibiki was once again reminded that Susano was an ANBU after all. She turned her head to the window and looked at one of the guards at the checkpoint as he approached her.

"We need to search the carriage, I'm afraid. It's policy. Could you please step out?" She nodded and he opened the door for her, helping her out of the space carefully.

Hibiki felt as though she was playing her role very well, standing up straight with her eyes wide while she stood close by Susano. The shinobi searched every nook and cranny in their traveling choice before they could continue on. Susano whispered in her ear that this was standard procedure with a lot of villages and towns.

They passed easily, and they got back inside shortly after. Susano waved bye to the men and women at the station before they went on, much to Hibiki's annoyance. A chorus of goodbye's echoed in her ears, and she heard her guardian giggle.

"This is the place, hime," The older woman told her as she opened the door. She could see a group of men waiting for them to approach, and Susano leaned down to speak again, "Stay quiet, pristine, and polite no matter how bad you want to shut them up and believe me, you will."

The warning was well granted because almost as soon as she reached the tall people, she was examined closely. She gave a pretty smile, and waited for them to speak. Susano stood behind her as her role of guardian provided her to do.

"Hime, I hope your trip was a smooth one," The oldest spoke first. She gave a short nod.

"Yes. Your home is very beautiful," She commented, letting her eyes wander over the large expensive looking compound. There were five men all together, with one woman looking over the shoulder of another. She could care less as the oldest rambled on about his house.

"Kaito-sama, perhaps we should take our guests inside. It's chilly out here, after all," Another suggested. Kaito the old man agreed and in they went.

"My grandfather built this place all by himself," One of the boys who looked a little older than her boasted. She acted as though she was paying him avid attention as they walked. Two younger boys, one old man, and two middle aged dudes. It was a party alright.

"Really? How did he do it?"

"Well," Hibiki ultimately tuned the boy out, glancing over his dark hair and eyes dully. She was already bored and they hadn't even reached the meeting room yet.

"Haime, don't ramble to the young hime. It's not polite," One of the middle aged men scolded. He looked similar to Haime, and she presumed he was the father.

"She asked," Haime scoffed. The bar in which she was tolerating his attitude lowered. She glanced at Susano and narrowed her eyes. She caught the laugh behind the older woman's cough when she tried to hide it.

Another step forward, and eventually they were at the room she supposed they were to be in. She took a seat on one side of the table next to Susano and the other boy, the three elders and Haime on the other. One of the women brought them tea in fancy silver cups. She carefully sipped it, taking notice of how Susano seemed to believe it safe with the way she was gulping it down.

"So, hime-chan, what are your hobbies?" The man called Ryou asked, but before she could answer, the man she'd identified as Haime's father spoke.

"Don't worry about such things, Ryou, we aren't here for a chat about flowers," Hotaka the sexist interrupted, as she liked to call him. It was offensive to her how they expected her to be in a certain class without a second thought. She was more than her looks, and she was angered by their inability to filter information.

"Of course," Ryou said apologetically. He turned towards Kaito and the table seemed to wait for his response.

As the old man began speaking about the 'inheritance' she was to get from them, Hibiki's carefully polite façade was slipping. Beside her, the boy whose name she'd found out to be Jirou kept squirming. He was twisting his fingers together and glancing around at everybody as though he couldn't sit still.

Then there was Haime who continued to shoot her annoyed glares at her mere presence at the table. He didn't seem to like that she was there at all. His father was just as immature. Hotaka would sneak in a comment or two whenever she spoke up about something completely off topic and mainly targeted to her appearance.

Her smile was wearing thin as she rapidly tapped her finger on her knee. Susano was as oblivious as ever, but Hibiki figured it was her being able to keep her calm more easily due to experience. It was irritating to look over at her carefree face as though these men weren't insulting her.

"This inheritance will take care of you, and I'm certain you will have your guardian to help you organize it," Kaito smiled. Hibiki was about to reply with a thank you, but was again forced to listen to Hotaka blab again.

"I'm sure you'll be able to buy all the hair pins you'd like," He drawled out. She clenched her fists under the table. She was at her tipping point.

"I'm glad to hear that," She forced herself to say.

"Perhaps soon you'll find a husband that will watch over the expenses more carefully than you will," He kept talking, "You won't have to worry about getting stressed over such things as how much food to buy and where to find good prices."

He was speaking to her as if she couldn't do anything by herself.

"After all, it is difficult for women to understand these complicated matters."

That was it.

"Yes, it is hard to know how men think. With such a limited brain capacity, I understand it must be frustrating trying to translate their ramblings into complete thoughts," She smiled brilliantly, even though the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. Susano froze up beside her, but she didn't let that stop her.

"Um.." Ryou looked nervously between the girl and his older brother, almost seeing sparks. He glanced at his father and saw him smiling in a daze off at nothing.

"You speak as if you're familiar with such a ridiculous theory," Hotaka had straightened in his seat.

"Oh, no, Hotaka-san," She politely shook her head, "Only from what I've heard today," Her smile found it's way back as she spoke.

"How rude," Hotaka scoffed, narrowing his eyes and looking as though he was going to go off on a rant again. Hibiki stopped him quickly.

"I must say, Hotaka-san, that every word I've heard come out of your mouth this evening has been very rude, and I'm not sure how much my heart can take," She was dramatizing the entire thing, and she loved every second of it.

Susano helplessly glanced back and forth to the older man and her charge. She could tell Hibiki was close to knocking the man out before he could say anything else. She didn't want to interfere since she was supposed to be background noise, but she hadn't expected the man to be as defensive as he was.

Maybe Hibiki was onto something right now. Susano analyzed the way Hotaka-san's brother shot a look to the corner of the room where a supposed guard stood and back to the commotion. Perhaps they really did have a hidden source to their money like the Hokage suspected.

"I was wrong," Hotaka scoffed, "You will never get a husband with a mouth like that. He'd have to put you back in your place every moment of every day until you learned it."

"And where is my place, Hotaka-san?" She asked with wide eyes, "By the side of a man who can't even tell his left from his right? But that would mean I would have a variety of suitors to choose from."

"That is quite enough, hime," He sneered her title and glared down at the girl, "We have come today to discuss business and with your dramatics we haven't gotten anywhere."

"If it's business we want to discuss, you might need to leave the room," Hibiki said calmly, "It's difficult to get anything done with your temper in the way."

"Excuse me!?" He was standing now, "This is my home, and I will escort you from the vicinity if I choose. Perhaps I will even dismantle the agreement of inheritance," He slipped in, sounding as though he'd won. But Hibiki wasn't done. In her irritation, she'd remembered that the mission was to find out if the Fuja's were getting money from an unlimited source.

"You're but a simple farming family, Hotaka-san. So how can it be that you have so much money to spend and trade off without a care anyways?" Hibiki asked coyly. He paused, and this time everyone was staring.

"That is.. none of your business."

"But I think it is my business seeing how it is my inheritance," She interrupted him. Her eyes were shining. She'd been holding this in since she got here.

Hotaka looked uneasy now, as did his brother. Susano took this as the time to pay close attention to the conversation and the way they spoke. It was easy to see they were guilty of something. She patted Hibiki's head in praise at her work, and watched as the tension in the room increased. Kaito glanced between his sons and furrowed his brow.

"Hotaka, Ryou, that money you've received has been from that company who hired you, has it not?" He sounded affronted at the thought of his sons not getting the money fairly.

"Y-Yes, of course, otau-san," Ryou sheepishly ducked his head as his brother spoke the stuttered words. Even he could tell that they didn't sound reliable.

"Ah! Gome, we didn't get it from the company!" The younger brother cracked.

"Ryou-" Hotaka warned, but he shook his head.

"No, Hotaka, it's time to tell the truth," He said maturely, "We weren't able to bring in a lot of money with the farm.. Prices for seeds and products are very expensive now a days. It was hard to even find anyone who would buy our supplies," Ryou rubbed the back of his neck, "So.. we went looking for help. We didn't want you to know, otau-san, because we were afraid of what you'd say.. Gomenasai."

Hibiki blinked as the story unfolded before her. She hadn't actually expected them to admit it. She glanced to her sensei and saw her smile.

"Money has been draining out of the village's total supply," Susano spoke up, catching everyone's attention, "There's a man who gets the money for you, yes? What's his name?"

"H-His name? Um.."

"We didn't.."

"You never got his name, did you?" Hibiki asked in a flat tone. With their nods, she sighed. That just made things more difficult.

"Gomen, but I'm afraid we need to take you in," Susano stood up. Hotaka stiffened up.

"We?" He asked nervously. He gaze flickered over to the girl who looked like nothing more than a petty princess.

"Mhm," Hibiki stood up too, putting a hand on her hip as she glared at the man. A skip, hop, and jump later, Hibiki and Susano sat in the front of the carriage side by side.

"Good work, Hibiki-chan," The Hyuuga smiled at her student. Hibiki was staring off at the sky as they moved closer to their home village. She hummed a response, but her lips twitched into a smirk as they ran over a hole in the ground. A groaning was heard from inside the carriage.

"Can you go any smoother?" Hotaka snapped from where he was tied up next to his brother. Hibiki snickered and looked back up to the sky. Another job well done, she'd say.

* * *

Hibiki jumps through Naruto's open window, carefully stepping into the room without a sound. She turned her head to look at the bed, but paused. Naruto was already up? The bed wasn't made, though that was to be expected. Usually when she came to get him for training, he was still asleep.

She looks back at the dark blue sky through the window and catches the first glimpse of sunrise. She lets out a sigh and turns to the entrance of the room. She makes her way into the hallway before she finally heard a sound.

It came from the bathroom and it sounded like a whimper. Intriqued, Hibiki silently walked to the door, leaning in a little closer to listen in. It was definitely Naruto, and as she peeked through the crack in the door, she was confused. He appeared to be tugging at a piece of uneven hair, staring crestfallen into the mirror.

She pushed the door open a little more which completely escaped his notice. She could clearly see the jagged cut in his hair on the left side of his head. It must've been his doing since the scissors he used were still on the counter. Not to mention the lock of hair was a mess on the ground.

"..Naruto?" She speaks up, watching as his head jerked to the side and he gulps down tears. She didn't know what to do, so she waited. He sniffled and tugged at his hair again.

"I.." He looks down at his feet, "I messed up again.."

His tone was particularly heartbreaking and Hibiki didn't care too much for it. She'd had enough of her own crying and emotion shit that just seeing another person cry made her nauseous. She held in the eye roll and took a step into the room. She removes his fingers from his hair and she tugs at it herself.

"What do you mean? This?" She asks curiously. Was he really upset over this? It was just cut hair. Hair grew back when cut, usually better than before. Naruto hiccupped, swallowing the log in his throat.

"I always do this," He says, but she was ignoring his emotional reaction. There really was no logic behind it, yet he was crying over his hair. Ino or Sakura or even Sasuke would probably do the same, yet the whole situation still confused her.

"It's just hair, Naruto."

"N-Not my hair. Everything. I always mess everything up," His voice was wavering.

"Mm," Hibiki hummed, raising an eyebrow at his hair again, "Not always. I distinctly remember you buying me lunch the other day. It was good," Naruto blinked, his wide eyes searching for certainty.

"But that's not important.." He sounded exasperated, desperate. Hibiki wondered if this was the stress put on him from the village, or from himself.

"Neither is your hair," She retorts, shooting him a look as she lets go.

"Hibiki-chan.." Naruto looked like he was gonna cry again, his eyes overflowing with tears. She hides a cringe and sighs.

"You always get so overdramatic," She says finally, turning and stalking out of the bathroom and to the training grounds. Naruto followed behind, using his sleeves to wipe his eyes.

When Hibiki got home that afternoon, she was greatly disturbed by how she related to that stressful emotion. She understood what it was like to want to fall over and cry because of the pressure of everything. While she was taking over the world, and Naruto was simply crying over hair, it had the same principle. It made her uneasy.

She blinks, glancing down to see she'd gotten frosting onto her hand from the treat she was making. She would've just licked it off had she not also had some dirt around it. She really needed to be more cautious of dirt and stuff getting into her food, but she was lost in thought.

Hibiki moves to the bathroom and washes her hands. She turns off the water and straightens up to dry her hands off, but stopped when she caught her eye in the mirror. Her eyes flickered to her hair and then back down to the towel she'd been reaching for. She finished drying off her hands, turning to walk out the door when she caught her eye again.

This was a ridiculous thought. Why would she cut a piece of her hair just for that blond brat? It wouldn't do anything to help anyone at all. Besides Naruto. She rolls her eyes, shaking her head. The whole idea was stupid.

But wasn't that what she'd told Naruto? That hair doesn't matter and it's just some unimportant thing. Hibiki leaned on the palm of her hand, blinking as her hair fell over her face. It'd grown throughout the months so it was rather long now anyways..

She squeezed her eyes shut. Why did she keep doing these things?

Hibiki walked towards Naruto while he waved from the end of the road. They were going to find Sasuke because Naruto was convinced he could beat him up this time. She didn't want to spoil his good mood so she was cornered into going with him. The show off.

She was a few feet away from him when he really got a good look at her. As he did, his eyes were directed towards something very familiar near her face. He stared, his eyes widening as he watched her. She wanted to squirm under his gaze, but instead tilted her head up to look at him in the sunlight.

"What?" She asks, feeling satisfied by the shocked expression on his face.

"Your hair.."

"Oh, yeah," She reaches a hand up and tugs the hair she'd cut off, "What about it?"

Naruto was quiet for a minute as though he didn't understand the words she was saying. His eyes looked from her hair to her face. Hibiki purposely didn't acknowledge the stare, instead shifting her feet so she was turned towards the direction they were originally going.

"So are you still going to fight Sasuke?"

Naruto merely nods. She started walking passed him, only pausing when she realized he wasn't following behind. She turns her head and sees his own facing the ground. His back was slouched over, but he looked as if he was thinking about something. She rolls her eyes and steps back to reach him.

"Come on, Naruto," She says softly, pulling at his wrist. He reacts by walking beside her, a smile blossoming on his face. He looked very happy in that moment, and she was almost proud of her work.. Until he spoke up again.

"You did that for me, eh, Hibiki-chan?" That cheeky little..

* * *

"Goodbye, Hibiki-san," The girl behind the counter waved shortly as she passed. Hibiki raised a hand to scratch her cheek, but waved back at the woman. She opened the doors and took a step outside of the Tower.

It's sunny outside today, and she's almost blinded as it shines in her eyes. Hibiki rubs her eyes with a fist, moving to continue on back home. She'd been in that office for over an hour due to paperwork. She didn't know how the Hokage did it. After the first ten pages, she was done.

The mission was lame anyways. The entire time she barely paid any attention to the man they were trying to find. He was a civilian who confessed as soon as he saw them at his door. Sniveling like a baby.

Hibiki sighed, coincidentally blowing the shortest piece of hair out of her face. It'd gotten longer since she cut it, so that was a good thing. Naruto was still touched by the fact that she did it, though she continues to tell him she truly messed up.

She messed up by thinking cutting her hair was a good idea.

He refuses to believe her and comments on it as much as he can. An irritating routine that seemed to never get old. She was just lucky that he hadn't actually told anyone about it or else she'd have to deal with Kiba or even Ino commenting on it.

One foot in front of the other, Hibiki pushed her hands deeper in her pockets as she came up to her desired location. She opened the door to the little restaurant and mumbled a greeting to the waitress while she found a table.

She slides into the booth and lays her head on the table. She was too tired to look at the menu right now. Maybe she could just ask for a drink. That would be the easiest thing to do in this situation. A waiter came by soon enough, and she sat up a little to speak.

"Just a sweet tea," She says, staring vacantly at the paint that was chipping on the walls.

"Ah.. Gomen, what did you say?" The waiter asked, his face the portrait of confusion. Hibiki was about to say what she wanted again, but paused. What was a sweet tea?

"Some dumplings," She said instead. The man nodded, giving her one more confused glance before going to send her order in. Hibiki released a breath she didn't know she was holding and shook her head of the thought. It was more trouble than it was worth to go after vague memories.

She's lost in a dozen thoughts, but her mind snaps into action when she hears the bell from the front door ring. Looking up, she catches the eye of a frantic looking Uchiha. After a moment of awkward staring, Hibiki shifts in her place in the booth and nods at him.

"Do you wanna sit?" She asks politely. He looked hesitant, but Sasuke never had any reason to find Hibiki like the girls that were chasing him. He moved to sit in the booth across from her, avoiding eye contact at all costs.

The two were both staring off into space when the waiter came back with her dumplings. She motioned for Sasuke to get some too, and he took one after she did.

"Hiding?" She finally speaks up, still gazing at nothing.

"Hn."

"I guess that's a yes," Hibiki plopped a dumpling in her mouth. The black-haired boy glanced at her as if he was calculating her behavior.

"What about you?" He asked. She crinkled her nose.

"Paperwork," She explained. He rolled his eyes, because he'd almost forgotten Hibiki already graduated from the academy. She was ahead of him and was complaining about paperwork. How dull.

The two went into silence, both of them picking the dumplings off the plate periodically. Every so often, one would make a comment on a trivial matter such as the weather or the way windows were made. Then they would go back into that silence and seemingly daydream about whatever was on their minds. Hibiki, however, was still stuck on that paperwork she had to fill out.

"Paperwork is necessary, sure, but it's too much detail for a record that won't be looked at after it's written down," She shrugged, "It's good to keep things in writing in case something ever comes up but a civilian mission really has no business being there."

"Unless the civilian is involved in something bigger than the mission itself," Sasuke theorized, raising an eyebrow, "It could jeopardize future situations if the information to behavior or reactions of a certain individual was misplaced."

"Even so, we're shinobi. Shouldn't we have a more efficient way of keeping records than to literally keep them in filing cabinents?" Hibiki pointed out, "Scrolls are used to keep jutsus, why couldn't they be used to keep information comprised?"

"You're not thinking about how many materials would need to go into a project like that. Every account would be different. It's not like you can just label every scroll," He rolled his eyes. Hibiki pouted slightly, and she felt a bit like Naruto.

"You make a good point.."

"Duh."

Hibiki shook her head at him and laid her chin in the palm of her hand. She couldn't find it in herself to be truly irritated, though. It was fun debating back and forth with someone who could keep up. She enjoyed finding facts to match up to theories. If Shikamaru wasn't so suspicious of her already, she would most definitely be entertained by debating with him.

Whenever Sasuke was sure the girls following him were gone, he dipped out the back door, giving her a nod on his way. Hibiki returned the gesture and decided herself to go home too. She could probably take a short nap before she was needed again for anything. Maybe even practice a bit.

As she reached her room, she shut the door and window, then stood in the middle of her room. She let her eyes flutter closed and breathed out deeply. Hibiki channeled the spiritual energy inside of her, keeping her heart beat steady and calm. She was still practicing on turning a part of her body into wood, and it seemed to be going well.

She was going to try and make two pieces of her body turn into wood, her arms. So far, she'd only gotten one arm at a time. If she could spread out her chakra enough, she could probably change both places at the same time.

Hibiki concentrated on her arms, starting to move her chakra. A loud bang of a door slamming open made her cancel the stream of chakra going into her arms, sending it elsewhere. She twisted her body around, getting ready to attack when her eyes caught the color blond.

Of course he'd be the one to interrupt her. She released a sigh and stood up straight. He was standing in her door frame, mouth open. She wondered if maybe he'd seen the beginnings of her practice. She was pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear when she ran over the hard surface of wood.

She froze. Her ear.. oh fuck.

"Hibiki-chan.."

"Yeah?" She answered, hoping her voice didn't sound as shaky as she thought it did.

"..Why is your ear made of wood?" Time for plan B.

"It's not." Deny everything.

"But.. It looks like you have a wooden ear."

"I don't."

"Hibiki-chan, it really looks like your ear is forest tree wood."

"It isn't."

"Um.. okay, Bi-chan." By now, her ear was back to normal, and while her face still displayed no indication of what it was, Naruto shook his head. He must've been imagining it, right? He hadn't slept very well since his graduation was soon, so that could be why. Yeah.


	10. Chapter 10

Hibiki narrows her eyes.

The old woman behind the counter glares right back.

".. Fine," Hibiki finally scoffs, reaching in the pockets of her black shorts and slapping the money on the counter in front of her. She snatches the strawberries out of the brown shipping crate they were delivered in. The woman counts the currency in her hands, smirking just enough so that her rotten colored gums were showing.

"Nice doing business with you, dearie," She chirps smugly. Hibiki mutters a retort and stalks away from the greedy old hag. She hoped that bag of bones would die soon. She was done with trying to haggle with that woman and pay extra than what the items were worth.

Still.. The redhead peeked down at the fresh strawberries and popped one in her mouth before anyone could see her do it. Eh, she shrugged, the price was worth the quality.

Today had been shopping day, so for the better part of the morning Hibiki shuffled around the food corner downtown to stock up on edibles. Getting a better grip on the many bags she had in her possession, the short girl straightened her back to pop it and started for her apartment. She wanted to toss all these weights in her kitchen and hurry to her favorite weapon store that was located not too far from where she just was.

After her last C-rank mission that quickly turned into a B-rank, she got a fat pay check to spend on whatever she pleased. Hibiki maturely got the essentials that she was lacking for the month such as toothpaste, shampoo, and food. She then decided to blow the rest on a new stock of weapons that she could specifically modify to line up with her wood style

She was a girl of simple tastes, really.

Humming a tune that sounded a lot like an anthem, she lazily jumped from the ground up to her apartment in order to avoid having to waste time looking for her key that somehow disappeared about a week ago. She totally didn't lose it by the way. It was merely missing. Stolen, perhaps. By thieves.

She really needed to get a new key..

"Ah.. Why can't groceries put themselves up?" Hibiki whines, pouting in a way that made her look too innocent for what she had going on underneath that facade.

Despite her reluctance, she took her time putting up the items one by one, making sure they all were situated in their proper place. She crammed the can of beans next to a small box of rice and soon she was finished with her duty of kitchen organizing. She gave a nod to her work, rummaged through her drawers to find her old brown wallet, and sprinted off her balcony. She grabbed the lining of the roof just before she jumped down and swung up to travel by roof top.

Since the shop wasn't too far out, Hibiki decided to take it slow. She had a few things she needed to bring to the front of her mind while she had time. It was a good thing she did, too, because she'd almost entirely forgotten her conversation with Sakura a while back about where she could get better tactic books and scrolls.

Hibiki snorted softly, wondering if she should sneak into the Nara compound to read scrolls. The place was bound to be trapped and greatly protected. That doesn't even mention that the Nara aren't too bad with sensing others, especially if those people were near their loved ones. She'd be caught before she even stepped into the library.

It was silly to think that she could find a hidden file safe in the Hokage Tower without any problems, yet sneaking into a smug clan's record room was difficult. That was different, though. The information she had needed was old and unwanted, so of course no one would be guarding it. There was no doubt in her mind that the Third probably didn't even tell anyone about the formal paragraphs on his student in hopes that it could remain hidden.

The issue with getting into the Nara compound, however, was that she'd need time to look through things and figure out what she needed by what she saw. Unless she was able to create a distraction or something of the sort to give her even a moment of searching, she could be caught red-handed.

A man walking in the road hissed an insult in her direction as she hopped down in front of him from a roof to his left. Hibiki ignored his rude comment and made her way into the tall building she'd been looking for. The tacky store sign that had the business's name (why it was called, 'The Fish Market' when it sold weapons, Hibiki had no idea) hung above the shop's window. A bell sang out as she pushed the door open and the overwhelming scent of flowers engulfed her sense of smell.

"Hibiki-san, back again I see," Mami, the store's owner who had a pretty smile and a devilish attitude, greeted from where she sat behind her register. She was wearing a silk blue kimono, and her hair looked like it was still wet.

"Ohayou," She greeted in response, not really paying the woman any attention as she spotted a trio of kunai on the wall.

"It's two in the afternoon, but I already expected your lack of attention when you saw my newest shipment," Mami's black hair swayed as she pouted at her regular customer.

"How much?" Hibiki asks, lifting one out of the holder they were in to twist it around her fingers skillfully. They were perfectly balanced, and had a good amount of weight to them. Plus, they looked small enough to hide in the side of her boots or clothing without being noticed.

"Well.. for you, I'll mark it down a couple 0's," She purred, leaning her chin on the palm of her hand as she gazed at the shinobi years younger than her. Hibiki caught the 'if' tone in her voice and turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you want?" She questioned plainly. There was no use beating around the bush when dealing with that woman.

"Those academy brats keep screwing with my equipment out back," Mami scowled as she spoke, "I don't have room for those huge things inside, so I need them to stay behind the shop for when customers want to try out a product. And those little devils keep ruining them whenever they sneak back there."

"Ah," Hibiki nodded in understanding, "You want me to scare them away."

"Or kick their ass, but whichever is fine with me. As long as they quit messing with my expensive shit, you get those knives. Deal?" The older woman waited for an answer, and Hibiki thought about what to say. She did want the knives. She had the money for them, so she could just buy them and forget about the whole thing, but where was the fun in that?

"Okay," Hibiki pushed a hand through her hair, "About what time do they come around? What days? How many?" She asked the essential questions first.

After she got the information from Mami, the girl set up camp on the roof of the shop, laying back with her eyes closed. She could get this done in a few minutes, get her prize, then go put them into action at the training grounds. The academy classes would be ending in about ten minutes, give or take, so she could wait up here and take a little nap before then.

The wheels in her mind started turning as the arrangement triggered a memory of a conversation from that morning she had with Susano. They'd been talking about the educational system in Konoha when the graduation date came up. That meant Naruto would be graduating from the academy soon, much to her surprise.

It'd been a while since Naruto told her about the date of the test. She'd been practicing with him as usual, though it never connected in her mind that all the intense effort and extra hours the boy put into their training was for that reason. Somehow she'd forgotten that he was still a little genin and not on the same level as her.

Not that it was hard to tell. The boy had too much chakra, thanks to that fox inside of him, and it threw him off balance concerning a number of things. Naruto had incredible potential, but it was difficult to see sometimes. Maybe being on Team 7 will help him out in the refining process.

Hibiki rested her arms behind her head and bit the inside of her cheek. Graduation day was in two days, so whatever happened between now and then would put perspective on what little information she had at this point in time. After that, it won't be long, only a few months in fact, until the Chuunin Exams are brought up.

That would give her a short window of time to tone her skills and the wood style before the invasion. She mused the idea of the day Orochimaru would come and kill the Hokage. The sentimental man will be gone, leaving the village in mild destruction while others try to rebuild what was lost. During that time, she thinks, could be very useful in getting down any dirty work that needs to be taken care of.

The more important things will come later in life, but there are a few people and things she needs to deal with. Without a stable Hokage, people will be lost and unsure. Mourning the loss of his 'great' existence. It was a good thing he was kind to many people in Konoha, otherwise they wouldn't take his passing so hard. It will knock them off their balance, so it's a perfect time to strike.

Hibiki perked up as she hears approaching whispers. Guess thinking time is over.

* * *

Naruto stares solemnly down at the dirt beneath him, using one foot to rock him slowly back and forth on his designated swing. The day was beautiful, yet it seemed nature didn't take his feelings into account as he sat alone, watching the swarm of people praising their loved ones and celebrating their success.

He didn't pass the test.

His grip on the ropes tightened, and he had to bite his lip in order to keep the wave of feelings down. He wasn't sure he could even cry anymore. There was a pit of emptiness rustling inside of his stomach, ravaging any and all emotion he had left. His throat seemed sewed shut from everything he couldn't say in that moment.

How could he fail? He'd trained for hours and hours, hadn't he? He stayed up as late as it took to get his precision lined up correctly just so he could train again the next day on the same thing. Sometimes he'd be left all by himself in the dawn of morning, filthy with dirt and blood, and crying in frustration as sweat soaked his shirt.

He did his best, right? It wasn't his fault he hadn't paid attention when Iruka sensei announced what the test was on. He'd been exhausted from how long he stayed out the night before training and couldn't help falling asleep as soon as he got to school. He even studied while he did all of his stretches in order to even pass the book part of the test. Page after page until his eyes stung with dryness.

He wanted nothing more than to pass this time.. This one good grade was so important to him, and he'd been desperate to prove them wrong. He'd wished on stars right before bed and willed himself to never stop practicing all so he could finally do something right. So that people would finally stop glaring at him with such disgust and disgrace, as though he didn't deserve to live.

Naruto wanted to hear them say, look, he actually didn't mess something up this time. He passed his test. No matter how much of a miracle it is, good for him.

He was tired.

The whispers were beginning to turn in his direction, but that wasn't what made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He could sense Hibiki's chakra nearing the building. Dread started to bubble up inside of him. No, she couldn't see him like this. After all the days she barked orders from his side, trying to bring him up to a standard of being she could be proud of, she couldn't know that he failed the test just like everyone said he would.

More than anything, he didn't want Hibiki to change her mind about him and their friendship. What if she saw him as a loss? A waste. Dead weight. Nothing more than the dirt underneath her shoes. Would she stop being his friend if she knew he still couldn't pass despite how much work she spent on him? No, he really didn't want that.

Panic was welling up in his chest as she got closer, and before she could turn the corner, Naruto did the one thing he'd done every time he couldn't bear the weight of his emotions. He ran. Taking off like the entire village of Konoha was chasing after him with weapons raised, Naruto slipped over the fence locking in their academy and went in the first direction he saw.

What a coward he was.

The wind slapped his cheeks turning them even more red as he jumped from building to building. He used landmarks to his advantage, seeing he was almost to the old playground where him and the others used to hang out at whenever they skipped class. He could see the outline of the swings in the distance, but he skidded to a stop as someone stepped out in front of him. His eyes darted up, and he blinked with weary confusion as he saw one of the men who flunked him.

"Naruto," He said, "What brings you here?" Mizuki smiled the nastiest of grins at his 'luck'.

* * *

The sun was starting to fade away as Hibiki leans back against the wall of the academy. She looks from side to side again, crossing her arms over her chest as she frowned. Where the hell was Naruto? Today was his graduation thing, so she decided to come out of the goodness of her heart and meet him here. But when she arrived, his chakra wasn't even lingering in the area.

She sighed, tapping her fingers in a rhythm on her arm. She really should've been paying more attention when she approached the school to see if he was even around before she got there, but her mind was elsewhere at the time. It was a lost cause to stick around the place since he obviously wasn't there, yet she foolishly stayed in her spot under the thought that he might come back.

Hibiki pushed herself off the building and brushed off invisible dirt from her shoulder. Naruto was an alright sensor, though not very good with range, so he should've been able to find her within an hour at least. She made sure he knew how to do something as simple as that when they were training a few weeks back. So why hadn't he found her yet?

It may have just been a habit, but she was used to Naruto tracking her down in order to give her any news in general. Whether it be a new prank or something interesting he saw in the market, he'd rush to locate her if she was in the village. His graduation test results should've been something he ran to tell her considering how much he rambled about it. Perhaps he didn't pass. That still didn't seem like a likely reason that he wouldn't tell her, even though she knew he had become a genin. It was one of the thing she did remember, since team 7 was the main focus.

So where the hell was he?

"Guess I should just find him myself," She finally decided. She was irritated at waiting for such a long time for him, so she took her sweet time walking to where his chakra was. It seemed more highlighted now, for whatever reason. She didn't linger on why that was seeing how it made her job easier.

An hour and a half later, Hibiki gives up on trying to pinpoint where that blond was. His chakra vanished and reappeared in different locations every time she got near. For whatever reason, he was hiding from her. And he was doing it rather well. He didn't want to be found, she learned as she hopped from district to district in Konoha, so she would leave him alone until he came to her.

She puffed out a breath, rolling her eyes as she turned to go back to her apartment. If he wanted to be difficult and run around the entire village, she'd leave him be. It wasn't on her agenda today to take a jog around Konoha, but it had happened despite her aching so she almost wanted to thank him for that. She hadn't planned on training much today, but the run gave her an excuse to rest.

Still, it sort of irritated her, actually, how much time today she'd spent on Naruto. From the deli market, to the training grounds, she peeked her head into each shop to try and spot his familiar face. Though just because she was annoyed by it didn't mean she wasn't still interested in what happened.

Obviously she wasn't in the loop that dealt with whatever he was on about, yet she was going to find out sooner or later.

"Sakura?" Hibiki mumbled as she watched the girl quickly stammer an apology after having run into her in the road.

"H-Hibiki-san, hello," She smiled. The first thing she noticed was the uncomfortable look in her usually shining green eyes as she stared back at her. The second thing she noticed was the piece of medal protecting her forehead.

"Have you seen Naruto today?" Hibiki asked up front. She didn't bother to question the obvious of her passing the test, seeing how she had evidence to prove she did. She'd rather figure out where Naruto was and be done with this day. The girl looked even more uneasy as the question was asked.

"I saw him at school today," Sakura answered, shifting in her spot, "B-But I haven't seen him since I left," She was fiddling with the bag of groceries in her hands, and Hibiki assumed her parents were going to cook something for her seeing the variety of goods. How sweet.

"I see," She breathed out, and she was going to leave it at that, but she was still interested in the changes to Sakura's character in this life, so she asked, "Sakura? What specification of shinobi do you want to be?" Her words were just the right amount of curious to get her an answer.

"Oh! Um.. I'm not really good with offensive attacks," That she already knew, "But I.. I was thinking about becoming a medic nin," Hibiki observed the sure smile on her face, and hummed in thought. Sakura had been a medic in another life, yes, but it hadn't started this early on. Had this change in profession been a consequence of her friendship with Ino?

Honestly, it hadn't occurred to her that their friendship was that important. She only saw it as a plot builder in the original context. It might've been a little rude to undermine their relationship like that, but it wasn't her fault they didn't appear much in her world. The change to Sakura's personality, however, was something she needed to keep an eye on.

Sakura is very intelligent, this she already knows. She was the book-worm who could recite pages of information from memory. It might be a hindrance to her ideas if the girl ever caught wind of anything, though it seemed pretty unlikely due to the sudden change in personality. She probably wouldn't even have the guts to stand up to someone like her, poor girl.

"We do need more medics, I suppose," She supplied finally. Sakura seemed to perk up at that, an obvious blush forming on her cheeks, unaware of the calculating stare she was receiving.

"Y-Yeah!"

After chatting with the pink haired girl for another minute or two, Hibiki took off in the direction of her bed. She wanted to sleep away this day without another thought to the blond who she still couldn't find. Just as she was about to scale her building to get to her balcony again, Hibiki paused, and turned to the apartment across from her own.

She sighed a minute afterwards, shaking her head. What's going on, Naruto, you baka?

* * *

Heeey. It's short, but it's something. I'll try to update soon after this because I hate only giving y'all short things. But anyways, comments? What do you think would happen if Sakura ever found out a dirty little secret? I love hearing responses. Until next time?


	11. Chapter 11

**Warning: gore. I should mention this chapter has some gorey stuff in it. You've been warned.**

The next morning, 12:00, still no Naruto.

Hibiki launched off the branch she was on a second after her foot touched the bark. She was speeding through the forest, not bothering to check and make sure Susano was still behind her. She knew she was considering she is an ANBU, but the woman was probably stumbling to react to this new found 'spirit' that came with each leap.

She chewed on her bottom lip, though not a very good thing to do when jumping, and scanned over the vicinity they were in. She'd gotten a regular night of sleep, and expected to wake up with Naruto begging for breakfast in her kitchen despite the lack of news from him the day before. The logical part of her mind already knew he wouldn't be, yet she was almost disappointed to find he was still avoiding her.

Dodging a kunai aimed for her head, Hibiki twisted mid-air to duck behind a large tree thus avoiding an onslaught of even more kunai. They embedded themselves deep into the wood, and she carefully yanked a few out to use herself without getting her hand cut off as the enemy continued to strike from afar. You could never have too many weapons on you.

"Two in the front, possibly more coming from the sides," Hibiki relayed back to Susano in a calm voice, glancing to where she was hiding behind a tree within hearing distance. She nodded, and signed for her to initiate the next attack before they were stuck in a corner.

Without a word, Hibiki hopped across the length of the battlefield, catching the missing nin off guard. She got a few scraps from diving straight into an area where they could easily get a good shot on her, but overall she was fine. She twirled the kunai she borrowed from before through her fingers and evaded a punch from one of the members of the tag team before her.

She snuck under his arm as it wavered in the air, and she noticed that he had tilted himself off balance when using more chakra than necessary in his panic. She took this in stride, gripped the kunai in her hands, and stabbed it through the back of his armour, jamming it in so that it went all the way through. She turned her head, however, in order to avoid some of the blood getting in her eyes. Instead, it got in her hair. Guess it was shower night.

The man gagged as his heart was forcefully stopped, but Hibiki was done with him now and didn't give him a second thought. She fell to her knees in a millisecond, kicking a leg out to twist around and trip the man who attempted to crush her with a battle axe. She glanced at the weapon curiously when it fell from his hands, seeing that it was of good quality, and picked it up from the ground it was laid on effortlessly.

"N-No... No-!" The man cried out before she executed him, French style. The blood splattered on her face, painting her cheeks in a different way. Hibiki took a moment to watch his head roll back from the force of her swing, then shifted the axe in her hands to get a better grip on it.

"More are moving in from the sides, Hibiki-chan," Susano helpfully reminded her. She was standing off to the left, clean as could be. This was Hibiki's mission, so all she could really do was watch and give tips.

Hibiki turned her attention to the approaching enemies, not giving her instructor a thought. She waited for the two- no, three missing nin to jump out of the trees that once shielded them. Now that they were out in the open, she was able to see their horrified stares much easier as they took in the sight of their two (dead) teammates.

"Tyamo.. Kasaki.. You.. You killed them! But you're just a brat!" One shouted.

"I'm going to make you pay!" Another screeched, starting to run forward sloppily due to his emotional state. This gave Hibiki a minute to observe their weaponry, seeing that they appeared to be more focused on taijutsu. They all had fairly decent body structures, and they showed too many of their strengths. That made them easy to identify as low level missing nin, most likely still genin, with minimal training in the weapons they carried, but not enough to be an issue.

Hibiki didn't bother to respond to the heartbroken boy as he charged at her without the use of chakra to speed him up. One of the two behind him followed in his path, but the last quickly ran to the bodies of their deceased teammates with tears running down his face. She looked at the two that were going to attempt an attack and took a stance.

The one with dark brown hair was faster, so he reached her the quickest. He reminded her of Sasuke with how straight forward he was, which ended up reminding her of Naruto and how annoying he was being. Whoever this genin was, he was insanely unlucky as irritation poked her core. She prepared for the general offense by infusing her empty hand with chakra, leaving the hand that held the axe hang limply by her side.

When he was close enough, and he lunged the katana forward to strike her heart, she smacked the air and grabbed the blade instead. He made a sound of confusion before she snapped the katana in two, the piece she held falling to the ground with a clatter. He shouted something, and Hibiki ignored her bleeding hand in favor of swinging the battle axe towards his person. She used the momentum from the ground to catch his arm as he ducked.

More screaming filled the air as Hibiki followed the severed arm with her eyes. She noticed the second attacker had saved his comrade by pushing him down, but the idiot flared his arm up just as she swung. She began to swing the axe wildly yet with precision at the two and the only chance they had was to dodge.

Like Naruto was dodging her.

Hibiki's chakra spiked as she gritted her teeth. She swung the axe down in the ground, catching the coat of one of the genin, and flipped over it using the handle as a point of balance to pin the two down. She whipped out five kunai, one for each finger, and flung them at the two, killing them instantly. She took care of the last grieving shinobi without much fuss since he was too emotionally compromised to function. Silence settled over the field.

"Good job," Susano complimented, smiling dryly as she watched her student pick the axe back up from where it sat.

Hibiki chose to stay silent in order to wipe the sweat off of her neck. She really needed a shower. She turned her head to observe the little Kiri team she'd killed off and let her eyes roam over each weapon. Since she got more training in weaponry, Hibiki became incredibly interested in the use of them. While she liked using her body as the main strength of her being, weapons were cool as hell. Unfortunately, besides the axe, it seemed like they didn't have much more than the basic katanas and kunais. Shame.

"Is there something on your mind, Hibiki-chan?" The Hyuuga asked as she contemplated the rash way she finished the missing nin off. It was a rather bloody affair for her first solo mission involving death. Suspicion creeped along the edges of her mind making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She gazed at her student carefully.

"No," Hibiki replied obviously, giving her sensei a thin lipped smile, "Just.. first kill," She lied instead, though they both knew it didn't matter that much to her. She'd killed five shinobi in under three minutes. Susano made an 'O' shape with her mouth, but tried not to think too much into it.

It was a good thing Hibiki wasn't too affected by killing people. She was to become an assassin, of course. Susano should have been more relieved that she didn't have a student who quivered in the face of danger and got herself killed. Unfortunately, no relief came from seeing a kid of thirteen years slaughter shinobi only a few years older than herself.

"Alright, then! Let's get back home, and I'll buy us some dango," Susano settled with, smiling as she tried to pat Hibiki on the shoulder, attempting to avoid the blood splatter on her jacket, but upon seeing how much blood there was, she aborted the mission. She wrinkled her nose, "Maybe you should wash up first."

"Hai," Hibiki sang, resting her new battle axe in the crook of her shoulder. After Susano sealed the bodies in a scroll, they took off in the direction they came from, leaving the distinct smell of a war in their wake without a care.

* * *

All Hibiki wanted to do at the moment was take a shower. They'd just arrived in the village after an hour and a half of running and Susano told her she would take care of the report so she could go home first. Usually her demon of a teacher would force her to do all of the mission reports saying it'll help her in the years to come, but today was different she guessed.

She rolled her eyes as she slipped through the shadows to get to her apartment. She realized that Susano wanted to give her a few moments to herself to contemplate things after what she thought was her 'first kill'. Let her think about how it all went down, and learn to accept it. Unknown to Susano, however, Hibiki had already killed people before this little mission.

Upon reaching her apartment, she snuck through her balcony without being seen and locked it back. She let out a sigh and dropped her hand from the lock, turning around to go find her bathroom. She scowled slightly at the blood dripping onto her floor. Before she could make an even bigger mess, she rushed into the bathroom and peeled off her uniform.

Hibiki stepped into the shower and laid her head back against the wall as the water stung the few cuts she did have. The blood that wasn't hers drained down her legs to the ground appearing to stain the floor.

After scrubbing her scalp harshly with shampoo and conditioner, she decided the stench was finally out of her hair. It took longer than a minute to wash everything out since her hair now reached down to her hips, not including that damned shorter lock near her face. As she stepped out and reached for a towel to dry off, she decided to trim her hair up a bit. Not too much, but enough.

Hibiki dressed in clothes meant for lazing around the house, snatched a pair of scissors from her kitchen, and trudged back into the bathroom. She held a strand of hair in between two of her fingers and slid down to where she wanted it to end, which was around the bends in her arms. A few messy chops later, and she was satisfied with how it cascaded around her chest.

She glanced behind her to find the time on the clock, seeing it was only 2:42. She'd taken a longer shower than she meant to, but she supposed that was for the best. It would do well for her to seem as though she was affected by her 'first' kill. While the establishment wanted emotionless shinobi, the Hokage might think differently if it didn't look like she cared at all.

Which she didn't, but that wasn't a point she wanted to bring up to the old man. Hibiki stretched her arms over her head, hearing her back pop and letting out a relieved breath. Since Susano was dealing with the mission report, she could stroll around town and see if she could find Naruto anywhere.

She blinked up at her ceiling as she stood in the silence of her room. To go from seeing the blond everyday to not even spotting him in a crowd the next, she could admit that she was sort of annoyed. He hadn't even shown up for training this morning, not that he was home anyways. She'd gone through his window at 5 a.m. only to find it empty.

Hibiki shook her head, metaphorically tossing all those thoughts out of her way in favor of getting dango later. She exited through her front door which she seemed to neglect more and more as the days went on without her key. She needed to remind herself to get a new one made soon.

The red haired girl was just beginning to reach the market place when she felt familiar chakra up ahead. Sakura and.. Ino. Of course. She coughed slightly in her palm at her inability to remember that they were usually together nowadays. She was able to see Sakura and Ino looking the same as they did in their other lives when she was about a yard away. Not much with their physical appearance had changed really. As she moved in closer, Sakura picked her head up and spotted her, suddenly beaming.

"Hibiki-chan!" She shouted, smiling in her direction. Then she gasped, her face turning red, "G-Gomen H-Hibiki-san. I-I didn't m-mean-"

"Mah, mah, it's fine," Hibiki shook it off. It was good that the girl felt intimidated by her mere presence. Ino turned away from the stand they were at and raised an eyebrow. She looked from Sakura to Hibiki without either noticing, and her lips twitched up.

"How's it going, Miss Assassin?" Ino grinned, nodding to her. Hibiki shrugged, shifting the way she stood so she could lean on her left leg more.

"I'm fine. I just got back from an easy mission outside the village. Susano is dealing with the report, thankfully. Still, I'd like to be napping right now," She sighed almost dramatically. Well, added with her glancing off into the sky and running a hand through her newly cut hair, she was acting pretty dramatic, but whatever.

"Lucky! We're stuck doing all these boring missions like catching cats or pulling weeds," Ino pouted, her long bangs falling into her face as she did. Sakura hesitantly raised her head again and nodded too.

"Us too. Sensei doesn't even stay with us, he just leaves to read that book of his," The pink haired girl gave a small smile, rolling her eyes.

"Ah, that's right. You both have genin teams now, yeah?" Hibiki turns on the charm, which isn't needed by much since the two are still young, and smiles encouragingly. Sakura blushes pink, and Ino nudges her in the ribs, snickering.

"Yeah, I got stuck with Shikamaru and Choji. Our sensei is Asuma, and he's really cool, honestly," She shrugged, "The boys aren't too bad, and our team is pretty much a make up of our parent's, but Shikamaru is so lazy and Choji eats, like, everything!" She throws her hands up in the air, "It's ridiculous."

"Aa, the InoShikaCho, right?" Hibiki questioned, though she already knew the answer.

"Yep. It's irritating that we were probably already picked for a team years ago, but.." Ino scoffs softly, "I guess it's cool," She smirks.

"That's nice," Hibiki smiles, "What about your team, Sakura?" She turns her attention to the other, almost demanding the answer. More than likely, she had the same team as before and could tell her what the hell was up with Naruto.

"O-Oh.. Um.. My team is pretty cool, I guess. Sasuke and Naruto are there, and our sensei is Kakashi. He says we work well together and have a lot of potential, which is a big compliment from him," She ducks her head sheepishly. Hibiki nods, and is about to question more about the blond when Ino interrupts.

"Of course you have a lot of potential! I helped train you, after all," Ino stated smugly, slinging an arm around her friend's shoulders.

"You trained her, Ino?" Hibiki asked, suddenly curious. The blue eye'd girl nods, pauses, and then shrugs.

"I mean, there wasn't a lot to improve since Sakura-chan here is so strong!" She teases, making the girl in her grip turn red again. Hibiki gives a little laugh at that, but she was wondering just how strong this Sakura was.

"Maybe we can spar sometime, ne, Sakura?" She smiles beautifully, and Sakura's face only seemed to get darker.

"H-Hai!"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something," Hibiki pretends to 'remember'. Sakura is suddenly at full attention and motions for her to continue as Ino stares on, "Is Naruto okay?" She wanted to swear loudly at how much concern she accidentally let through. Sakura blinks, but smiles slightly.

"I think he's alright. Now that you ask, though, today he did look a little.. lost, I guess," She reports. Hibiki bites the inside of her cheek, vaguely smug about the reaction of not being around. Still, she was confused.

"Why do you ask? Don't you two live, like, with each other?" Ino cheekily asks. Hibiki raises an eyebrow at the expression on her face and shakes her head.

"No, we live close by each other. I just.. He wasn't at training this morning," She catches herself before she makes a mess of her words. But the damage is done, and Ino continues to smirk like she knows something she doesn't.

"Ah! I didn't even notice, Hibiki-ch-san," Sakura intruded into the conversation, not unwelcome by Hibiki who had almost forgotten she was there, "You cut your hair. It looks pretty," She hesitantly smiles, her eyes trained on her feet like she was embarrassed.

"Huh, it is shorter. Nice choice, I guess. Long hair still beats short hair though," Ino stuck her tongue out childishly, and Sakura protested in a similar way. Hibiki snorts quietly to herself and shakes her head, "Well, we gotta be at the training grounds soon. See ya soon, Hibiki-chan!" Ino loudly mentions, starting to pull Sakura away.

"O-Oh, yeah. B-Bye Hibiki-san," The green eye'd girl mumbled with a wave as they left in a rush. Hibiki raised a hand in acknowledgement, then let it fall to her side.

"Ready to go eat some dango?" Susano's voice asked suddenly from her left. Hibiki glanced to her side and saw the woman crouched on the roof of the stall, smiling cheerily for someone who just got done with paperwork.

"Sure," She shrugs. After jumping down from the little roof, Susano starts to ramble on and on about things that she really didn't care for at the moment. She was more focused on plotting to find Naruto this afternoon. Sakura said they had training today, so more than likely Naruto would stay back after his teammates left to get in extra practice since he didn't attend her training. It'll be easy to catch him off guard when his chakra resources are low and demand to know the reason behind his avoiding her.

* * *

Hibiki nodded a goodbye to Susano as she watched her stroll down the road back to her compound. The Hyuuga had insisted on buying more than a round of dango for the both of them so that she could reward her for a job well done. Hibiki already knew she did fine work of the mission, but she accepted the reward without a fuss.

They talked, or more Susano carried on while Hibiki added in an 'Ah' or 'Oh' every so often, about a couple of things. The first thing was the reaction from the higher-ups. They were pleased to hear about how the mission went, Susano sneaking a glance at her when she spoke, and that she didn't get herself killed. As if she would.

The second thing she talked about was the type of missions they'd start to go on since the first kill was done. That was always a turning point in a shinobi's life, where things progressively got harder. There'd be more pressure put on accuracy and being able to control the situation. That wouldn't be a problem considering who she was, Miss Perfect, but it was a little daunting to hear how some missions would be such as attacking from inside a base filled with enemies or rising from being cornered to get an advantage.

It was all good practice, though, for the final show she worked to put on. Even as her teacher spoke, Hibiki found herself daydreaming about such a work of 'art'. There'd be some resistance at first, as there always was with the mentioning of a new god, but she could work with that. She was at her best on the battle field, after all.

Smoke and mirrors, fires and destruction, despair and then.. There she was, shining like the stars high above the sky as she stepped down the stairs into her empire of gold..

Well, it was only a day-dream.

Hibiki shook her head free of those thoughts as she focused back into reality where she stood alone in the falling darkness of day. They'd spent more time at that shop talking than she realized. The sun was already low in the sky, she noted with a frown.

She tapped three times on her thigh, her eyes closed as she focused on finding Naruto's chakra signature. It took a moment, but she was finally able to faintly find his location in a training ground to the east of her. Hibiki recognized that he appeared tired, his chakra dwindling down to some of its lowest points. So she took off, her own signature hidden in case he attempted to run.

She rushed across the building tops, mumbling to herself about how she wanted to chew him out for avoiding her. It wasn't a light issue in her mind, but she figured there had to be an actual reason for him to completely blank himself out of her day. No matter how stupid it may be, she was going to find out why.

Hibiki slowed as she approached the grounds, coming to a walk as she hopped down from the roofs to stroll in. She didn't let her presence known as she spotted his slouched over form in the middle of the place. As she got closer, she could even hear his ragged breath and smell the sweat from his earlier training.

She waited until she was just a few feet away to drop her cover on her chakra. Instantly, Naruto froze up. Hibiki folded her arms together across her chest and stared at his back, intent on letting him turn around first. And he did, slowly and painstakingly.

"H-Hibiki.." He mumbled, his eyes wide. He was sitting on his knees in a position that almost looked like he was bowing to her. He swallowed thickly, "I-"

"You've avoided me all day," She started before he could even get a syllable out, "And yesterday. Why?" She demanded an answer, and it was in that moment that Naruto first saw the deadly gleam in her eyes.

"I-I.. I couldn't.."

"Couldn't what?" Hibiki gripped her elbows tightly, not wanting to acknowledge that her shoulders had tensed up. Naruto deflated like a balloon, his eyes searching the ground as if it had the answer to her question. When he appeared to not have an answer, she went on, "I came to your graduation," His back straightened, and he blinked up into her eyes, his own glistening, "I waited for a while, but you weren't there," She shifted her footing, looking anywhere else besides at him.

Naruto contemplated the statements she spoke, something akin to hope sparking in his blue eyes as he seemed to decide on what to do. She wouldn't turn him away. She'd bothered to care for him, though she may not have directly said so, and that was enough for him. He opened his mouth, confident that he could say what was needed.

"I.. I failed the test. At first, I mean. I was so.. ashamed. You'd spent so much time training me for that test, and I didn't pass," He clenched his fists, "I didn't.. I didn't want you to see me like that. So, when I sensed you coming to the academy, I ran."

Hibiki gazed upon him curiously. So something had happened after the test. She waited for him to continue on silently, and when he appeared to have trouble doing so, she took the initiative. Leaning down, Hibiki plopped herself on the ground in front of him, crossing her legs and nodding in confirmation to his already spoke words.

"A-After I ran away, I accidentally crashed into Mizuki," That was surprising. Didn't he hate Naruto? As he continued on with his story, she felt the familiar tingling of déjà vu in the back of her mind. This had happened before, the whole stealing shadow clones and Mizuki. But.. something else happened after that. What was it? Naruto stopped now, looking on the verge of tears.

"Naruto.. What did Mizuki tell you?" It was right there. Her mind was drawing up a blank, but it was right there. She just couldn't reach the thought of why this was so important.

"He.. He told me.." Naruto swallowed his flood of emotions, staring straight down at the ground as he talked, "It all makes sense, you know.. The reason everyone hates me so much. I had no idea, but now that I know.. what I am.. I can connect the strands.."

What he was..

Why everyone hates him..

Connect the strands..

_**Click!**_

Hibiki blinked. Of course. This was just after Naruto found out he was a jinchuuriki for the nine tails. She'd already known about that whole deal, but she would admit that even she had forgotten that he didn't know it himself. Her eyes softened despite herself, and she was thankful that he wasn't looking at her to see the compassion that settled in her gaze.

"And what are you, if not a brat," She drawled out, attempting to soothe the situation now that she knew what he was on about. She shifted her eyes away from him, but peeked back over when he raised his had slightly.

"You don't understand," He sounded like he was pleading to her about something he hadn't spoken of yet, "What I am.. It's a monster. I know Iruka sensei said.. I'm not what's inside me, but it's still there. It still lingers there," He insisted. Hibiki tilted her head to the side.

"You say that like everyone on this world is not a monster on the inside," She says with a shrug.

"Not truly! I'm the nine tails, Hibiki-chan," His voice cracks as he says this, "I'm the nine tailed biju.. The same one that destroyed Konoha.." His voice progressively gets weaker as he struggles on. He didn't want himself to cry, but he sniffled as though he was going to.

Hibiki watched his downfall with morbid curiosity. It had never occured to her how much it must've hurt him to hear what he had inside of him. To finally find out why most everyone in the village despised him. But it wasn't as though he was the nine tails himself, though people tended to forget that little detail. He was just the carrier, a bag for the metaphoric groceries.

She hummed quietly, reaching over to grab his hands with her own. She rubbed gentle circles into his skin as he hiccupped words she didn't pay much attention to. He was mostly repeating that he was sorry for something she didn't catch and that he promised to save something that was muffled under his choked voice. She waited until he caught his breath to speak.

"And that's your excuse for missing training?"

He froze. Hibiki felt her lips twitch upwards as she tightened her grip on his hands.

"I told you, if you miss training even once, you'll pay for it the next time around," She grinned suddenly, and Naruto's stomach dropped. He groaned, knowing how hard she pushed him whenever he missed training last time. Still, he couldn't help the familiar sense of comfort that overtook him at her words.

"So.. You don't care that I'm a biju?" He asks hesitantly, wondering if he should just leave well enough alone while she still wanted to be his friend. She blew a piece of hair out of her face, and he noticed silently that she cut her hair shorter.

"Of course not. You're Uzumaki Naruto, my annoying.. partner in crime," Hibiki said, ignoring the urgent need deep down to call him her friend out loud. She was in too far right now to truly delve into the consequences of being his friend, and the backlash she would have in store for herself if she admitted it.

Well.. At least things were basically back to normal. Sort of.


	12. Chapter 12

Naruto grumbles to himself as he reaches down to yank another one of those damned weeds out of the ground below him. He tries to blink the sun out of his eyes without much success, eventually deciding to keep his head ducked down.

He was having some trouble dealing with all the weeds while the sun blinded him, unlike Sakura, who he noticed wore a pretty pink sun hat and sunglasses for protection. Even Sasuke had been roped into wearing an old farmer's hat to help him out with the rays of light.

They were all outside in a wide open farming area with no shade for miles. The closest thing he could connect to coverage would be the little house on the entire other side of the world. The wall that surrounded the village to the right didn't even provide any shelter. So they were shit outta luck.

The blond heaved a large sigh, wishing he'd taken a hat whenever the couple who owned the farm offered. They'd been so nice, even though the hats were probably a thousand years old. He'd wanted to show he could totally work despite the sun, even saying it wouldn't be a problem at all.

He took back everything he said not two minutes later.

Three hours of slouching over and pulling weeds again and again. His arms ached, and he was certain he had a horrible sun burn. That meant he'd have to walk like something was up his ass to avoid bothering said burnt skin. Which also meant he'd have to go to training and get pummbeled by both his team and Hibiki.

He flinched, thinking about how hard she beat him into the ground the first session back. She had no mercy on him for skipping the day before, and it was obvious she was taking out some irritation using him as her punching bag. While he knew it couldn't have been all because of him, it sure felt like it everytime she jabbed him in the ribs.

Naruto gripped a rather large patch and tried to pull his arm back. He frowned as it didn't move a single inch. He pulled and pulled at that area, but absolutely nothing was coming out. He tsked. If it was the sun bothering him, or his bruised ribs, it didn't really matter what irritated him. He'd reached his limit of tolerance.

"I'm going to rip you out whether you like it or not, you stupid weed!" He shouted to the plant, ignoring the snort he heard from his lazy sensei who was actually staying while they worked this time.

"Yelling at a plant isn't good for your health," Sasuke remarked not too far away. He'd paused in his assigned section upon hearing the outburst and chose to watch. Naruto was just too easy to rile up.

"You shut up!" Was all he could say in his defense. After being baked in the sun, the blond didn't have too much energy left in him to come up with anything more talented. Sakura sighed as a faint snicker slipped out from the Uchiha.

"Really, Naruto. You had to know it was going to be tedious work when we read the mission," She had also stopped to see what was going on with her team. She put a hand on her hip, tipping her yellow sunglasses down a bit to peek over the top and see the scene more clearly.

"Hmph. I did! I just didn't know it would be for so long.." Naruto mumbled with a huff. With his vigor to destroy the weed that had tipped the pot, he tightened his hold on the green menace. He started to infuse chakra into his grip, getting ready to yank the demon plant out of the earth and possibly burn it to ash.

"..Really?"

"This isn't going to end well.."

Sasuke and Sakura glanced at each other, both resigned to the way their teammate was already despite their personality differences. They'd spent a month and a half dealing with his frequent misuse of energy in ridiculous schemes to know when to step back and let it blow up in his face. A week ago they had to bring groceries to an elderly woman who couldn't get them herself and Naruto decided to have a race to see who would reach the house first.

He'd ruined more than half of the bags they'd bought by running into something and they were forced to use their own money to buy the items he'd dropped.

Pushing her sunglasses back onto her nose, Sakura twists her fingers together and holds her breath. She really did like her team, though they were sometimes a bit too much. She liked the way they could work together and get things done, but some of the things Naruto and Sasuke both did were out of the box.

"Come.. on.. you.. stupid.. plant-!" Naruto yelled and yanked as hard as he could. He could feel the roots starting to breach the soil, and his eyes brightened. He was about to give it one last tug before giving a victory speech when the plant snapped in two. One part stayed in the ground stubbornly as one part flew with Naruto, back into the rows of crops from the momentum used.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the blur of color that had conveniently passed by right beside the plant when the blond pulled. She listened to the shout of indignation as Naruto popped his head up with a turnip sitting right on top, turned to a very smug looking Sasuke who discreetly was shoving something into his pouch, and sighed. This was her team alright.

"Sasuke-!" Naruto shouted where he sat. He scrambled to get up, knocking the turnip down with a swipe of his hand.

"Yes?" Sakura shrunk back closer to her sensei, her face screwing up with nerves at the condescending tone of his voice. Since they became a team about a month ago, everyone seemed to open up and show their true colors. That meant the two were always fighting.

Sakura liked the times when they weren't rushing to rip each other's limbs off. They were all impossibly caring, though they each attempted to hide it without anyone else finding out. Sasuke and Naruto looked out for not only each other (though they won't admit it), but for her as well. They took notice of her shyness and did what they could to keep her out of harm's way, unless she takes the initiative herself. Usually, that job was Ino's, but since she had her own team now, she wasn't around as much.

Naruto was subtly insecure about a lot of things he did. He had this hesitation that made him freeze up whenever there was a choice on the line. He hid this part of him very well; Sakura hadn't even found out about it until about two weeks ago. It was like he needed someone to make decisions for him. Sasuke was a different story. He liked to pretend he wasn't outspoken with his opinions, but he is. If she had to describe him in one word, it would be prince. He liked to egg on Naruto and act as though he was superior in every aspect. Sakura knew he was just as shy as her when it came to interacting, despite his protests.

She still didn't know what to think about Kakashi. He was mysterious, but also playful. Dangerous, yet ridiculous. He hid behind his little mask and book, acting like the world wouldn't be enough to stop him if he tried anything. She liked to consider him to be just a dork who tries acting cool, though she knew he could really do some damage when prompted.

Sakura snapped out of her revelations when she noticed Naruto and Sasuke were wrestling again. She wanted to roll her eyes as she listened to the one sided conversation Naruto was yelling about. She peeked up at her sensei to see if he would do anything, but he looked as at peace with the world as ever.

"Guys.. We should just get this finished so we can go home already," Sakura tried to enter the debate, but they weren't budging.

"It's best to leave them be, Sakura-chan," Kakashi piped up, laying a hand on her head fondly.

"But we've been at this for three hours and I'm tired," She protested quietly. She didn't mind physical labor, but things as trivial as picking a field of weeds is hell.

"Yeah, dope. We're all tired, so stop complaining and get back to work," Sasuke decided to use her words as an anchor, putting up a bored facade even though he was forcing down a snigger. He'd straightened his back and put a foot in between them.

"You can't tell me what to do, bastard!" Naruto exclaimed, puffing his chest out.

"I'm older, so," He kept taunting childishly. He would never let anyone know that these pointless arguments were what kept him from thinking about that man. Being on this team was the only escape he had from his troubles.

"That's not even a real reason!"

"Hn."

"Don't do that stupid one syllable thing now! What does that even mean?"

"Hn," Was it possible for a two letter word to sound so smug?

"That's it! You're dead!" Naruto lunged at him once again, but Sasuke had stopped paying him attention. In fact, even Sakura and Kakashi weren't looking in his direction. He paused, "Hey-"

A loud thump echoed across the plains, freezing the blond in his place. The team of three stared anxiously over at the wall that protected their village. Sakura took a step back, her eyes wide as heart-stopping sounds of screams carried over from the other side. Sasuke and Kakashi were positioned in a stance, prepared to fight if necessary while the other two clamber to get ready.

Underneath the wall, a small opening began to show. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to tell his students to find cover while he handles this, but he couldn't even get a breath out before a man dressed in weapons leaped into the fray. He looked smug, and he had to be powerful if he was able to get through the line of guards. He stopped upon seeing the small audience he had.

"What's this? A welcoming party?" He grinned viciously, something gleaming in his eyes as he took them in. He wanted blood. He didn't care if that was from a weak team of genin or a squad of ANBU. There was no reasoning with him, so Kakashi put his book away in the small holder he kept it in carefully.

Before he could engage the criminal, however, a black haired woman hopped over the top of the empty wall and dodged an attack sent her way by the no longer distracted missing nin. She raised a hand to signal for Kakashi to stand down, and he was able to identify her as Hyuga Susano.

"What's going on!?" Naruto questioned as the lady stood in a comfortable stance in front of them. She blinked back at him and was going to ask him something when the man moved.

"Enough of this standoff. I got places to be," He sneered, starting to run in their direction. He barely got ten feet before another body dropped over the wall and sprung into action.

"That was slow, Hibiki-chan," Susano commented from behind, "Had it been anyone else, they could've done real damage," She scolded the red head. Naruto's jaw dropped.

Hibiki twisted in front of the man, dodging the blade that attempted to chop her head off. She leaped from side to side, swinging, dodging, and trying to get the upper hand. The invader had already shown his abilities in weapon combat from the way he executed the guardsmen. He was large, and slow, but he had strength that he could throw around.

They went back and forth, neither getting anywhere. It was annoying to Hibiki who knew she needed to outlast him and let his energy dwindle, but to team 7 who had never been in a real fight yet, it was incredible. Naruto's eyes were practically sparkling with pride at what a brilliant friend he had. He knew she was an amazing shinobi, but none of her training sessions ever let onto this.

"Shouldn't you be helping her?" Kakashi asks, his nose back in his book when he realized it was taken care of. Susano hummed with a twitch of her lips and shook her head.

"It's Hibiki-chan's job as guard of Konoha to disarm and incapacitate that man," She made it sound so simple, but this small occurrence had blossomed new inspiration in the hearts of those three genin. Hibiki shoved her knee into the panting man's back without a thought, blinking upon seeing the bright, wide eyes of Naruto and his team.

"That... was amazing, Hibiki-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, rushing forward to meet her in the middle as the ANBU (who finally decided to show up) took the invader away.

"That wasn't even her full strength," Susano gossiped from the side lines.

"Susano," Hibiki rolled her eyes, not really caring for the praise since she knew it was true. She was just trying to irritate her by telling the genin. That way, they'd start bugging her for training or something like that. Like she didn't already have enough on her hands with the whole world thing.

"You should've seen her on this B-rank mission," The teacher began, leaning in closer to the genin who were all listening intently. Kakashi bailed, like Hibiki wanted to do, but instead she was roped into following along with the team and her sensei as she retold her missions in a small dango shop.

Hibiki sighed. She was just doing her job. It wasn't that big of a deal. She paused in her thoughts, leaning her head to rest on the palm of her hand. Her job? It's ridiculous how one simple word could throw someone into a train of pondering. She didn't even notice the stares of admiration from the two genin across from her.

* * *

Naps were good. They were enjoyable, helped you get through tough days, and kept unwanted attention away from you. When someone sees a person napping, they don't bother them because it's a well known fact that they must be exhausted. Or maybe they're just lazy. Or hiding. Like Hibiki.

She snuggled closer to the pillow she stole off of the bed, curling into it in the darkness she laid. She didn't really need a blanket since she still had her heavy uniform on. It warmed her up enough to be comfortable on the messy floor. She nudged an empty can out of her face, mumbling to herself about cleaning this place up.

She didn't know how he did it. Hibiki liked her entire apartment to be at least somewhat clean. No trash littered her floors nor did any dirty clothes. Unless she was all tuckered out from a serious mission or from a particularly difficult training session, nothing was left out of it's designated sector.

How did Naruto even get so much trash under his bed in the first place?

Hibiki pushed the question to the very back of her mind, and kicked the raggedy box that was stabbing into her back even farther. The reason she was napping (hiding) underneath Naruto's bed would be easier to answer. Susano had been helping out with a couple of the genin teams lately, giving them advice and such because of some program the Hokage was trying out.

So she's been downgraded on her mission ranks. Instead of C rank missions, it was bullshit delivery journeys and protecting a farmer's caravan as he passed through uninhabited areas. They were ridiculous, and she refused to babysit some kids while Susano chatted it up with the teachers.

And like the mature shinobi she is, she hid under a bed with her chakra concealed. It was the only way she could get out of those missions without bluntly saying she refused to go anywhere with them. Well, it wasn't the only way, but it was quicker than arguing with Susano who could win any argument you started.

Hibiki never agreed with the sentiments of the Third. She did respect that he had been a famous shinobi in his time, ending wars and starting peace. However, that respect can dwindle down to nothing when all he wants to do it make sure genin know how to handle their morals in a way that completely erases the meaning of a shinobi.

She muses on the idea of what she'd teach younger genin if she could. It would probably be to focus on yourself and your own interests. Worrying about other people was troublesome, and sometimes it led to false ideologies. Then again, if she was teaching them something to be of use to her, she'd teach them how to follow orders without thinking for themselves.

Hmm.. That sounds about right.

Hibiki was just drifting off to sleep once more, her eyes heavy and her breathing faint, when the sound of a door opening entered her ears. She grumbled to herself, listening to the seemingly roaring footsteps in her fuzzy senses. She knew it was Naruto even before he rushed into his room.

She wondered if the training on his surroundings would come into play here. She'd done a fairly decent job of refining his attention to the way things looked around him. If he noticed, should she give him a day off? It would be improvement and-

"Hibiki-chan?" She blinked her eyes open, peering lazily at the boy who was crouched down to look under his bed, "Whatcha doing?" He tilted his head to the side.

"Napping," Hibiki closed her eyes again, intent on going back to bed before he could begin his ramblings, but she was too late.

"I'm glad you're here actually. I just got this cool C-rank mission and I wanted to tell you all about it!" He started, grinning brightly. Then he paused, "You'll be able to hear better when you're not under the bed, Hibiki-chan."

She squeezed her eyes shut, but grudgingly slid out from under the bed. She shook her head to get all the dust and dirt to fling off her hair and propped herself to sit with her back to the bed. She crossed her legs, sleepily held the pillow in her arms, and motioned for him to start. He quickly matched her position on the floor so they would be eye to eye.

Most of the time whenever Naruto babbled on, Hibiki let it go in one ear and out the other. She didn't just ignore what he said, actually she analized a lot of what he tells her, but a good bit of it doesn't mean a thing. She rubbed her eye carefully, nodding to whatever he was indicating to. He just kept replaying the scenery for her down to the last detail, something she had taught him to do so she could be better informed. Unfortunately, he took the lesson literally and used the same technique with every story he had to speak about.

Sometimes there was something interesting, though. One word that popped out and gave a plethora of hints pointing in a certain direction. Luckily for her, this was one of those times.

"The Land of Waves?" That sounded familiar.

"Yeah! I don't really know where it's at.. But it's a C-rank mission, like the ones you do!" He beamed, as if proud that he was able to connect the two. He got a sour expression on his face next, "But the guy we're escorting is a real drunk bastard. He insulted me the first chance he got!"

"Ah. What's his name?" She asked, feigning curiosity.

"Taku.. Uh.. Taz..una.. Tazuna, I think. I wasn't really paying attention to him since he was so rude," He crossed his arms, pouting slightly. Hibiki tried to recall if she knew anything on this Tazuna man, but she could only gain the faint feeling of familiarity. Maybe he wasn't that big of a deal?

Still, it bothered her. Team 7 hadn't been on any C-rank missions yet, but it wasn't like they weren't prepared for it. She'd seen their training from time to time and they were at least average. She wouldn't mention it, but Naruto was the main one carrying the team in strength so far. She was proud of that, no matter how far below her he still was.

"That'll be fun," She smiles, "It'll be your first time out of the village, yeah?" She was genuinely excited for him, now. It was exhilarating to leave the village gates behind. She could remember the first time she was able to run straight ahead without the bindings of Konoha to hold her back.

"Mhm," He nodded, "It's gonna be soo cool! Besides the whole Tazuna thing, but still!"

"Mm.. Just stay on your guard. Take note of your surroundings and don't let yourself be caught in stupid traps. Stay focused and look towards the main goal," She advised him. Naruto soaked in every word she said with an eager expression. He couldn't wait to impress Hibiki with the report of his first C-rank mission.

"What was your first mission out of Konoha?" He asked, suddenly remembering that he didn't really know much about what type of missions she went on, besides what Susano had told them the other day.

"My first mission.." Hibiki blinked. She traced a shape into his pillow and thought about it. She'd been on an emergency scouting event. A lot of chunin were already out of the village, so she was called upon as a last resort with Susano in tow. Her and a team were told to find a messenger shinobi who had top secret information outside of the Land of Fire within a time limit. It was stressful, but they found the woman without any confrontation.

"Yo, Hibiki-chan? You still there?" Naruto tapped her cheek when she didn't respond. She cleared her throat and rolled her eyes.

"Of course I am. I just had to think about it," She retorted.

"Was it scary? What did you do about the environment? Were there any snakes? What about boars?"

After that, Naruto pestered her with questions about what it was like outside of the village. Hibiki knew the topic that began the conversation was gone, and complied with simple answers. She scratched her head as he read off a mental list of what he thought he should bring with him, and she sighed.

She didn't know why she bothered to listen as he expressed his concerns and fears about the mission. He was being paranoid, and she was sure the whole thing would be easy enough if the Hokage gave them the mission. But.. if it was reassurance he wanted, Hibiki straightened her back, she'd have to give it to him.

She couldn't have a timid henchman after all. That would defeat the purpose of everything she'd worked on. So, she calmed him down with a string of words she couldn't believe came out of her mouth and soon he was insisting she stay for dinner.

"I don't think I-" Hibiki froze as she felt Susano's chakra spike up from across the way. She knew if Susano caught wind of her, she'd be in for a seriously intense training session, so she says, "I'll come help you," And hurried to stand up to follow the blond into the kitchen, discreeting shutting the blinds to the windows.

* * *

Yoo. We're getting into the nitty gritty now.

Cool.

I had a lot more planned for this chapter, but ya know, Christmas. Have a happy few days, everybody. Until the next time?


End file.
